


More Than Just A Fling?

by neoqueentitania



Series: More Than Just A Fling? [1]
Category: Sword Art Online (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Slow Burn, alcohol mention, divorced kirito and asuna, kirito being a good dad, will add tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-18
Updated: 2020-05-16
Packaged: 2020-09-06 11:37:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 27,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20290831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neoqueentitania/pseuds/neoqueentitania
Summary: Kazuto Kirigaya, aged 24, has already been through love at its highest and lowest points, being married and divorced within two years. Will a drunken night with a stranger change his feelings on love? And how far is he willing to go for his daughter, and for himself? || Yujikiri fake dating AU.





	1. A Drunken Night

**Author's Note:**

> Daaammnnn Lizzy, back at it again with the *good dad Kirito*.  
Hey all! This is a fic inspired by events that occurred IRL. I've never tried a slow burn before so... I hope it goes well! The first chapter is shorter than I would have liked but I really wanted to post this now. I'm very excited if you couldn't tell.  
Trigger warnings for this chapter: Alcohol, implied smut.

‘How did it end up like this?’ Kazuto thought helplessly as he stared at the bottom of his empty glass. He was leaning against the bar of the Dicey Cafe, already less than sober. He had a brand new paycheck and a Friday night to burn through, as well as a miserable feeling in his heart.

Just a couple of years ago he and the woman he’d proudly called his soulmate had been exchanging vows and starting the rest of forever together. 

He could still picture the day perfectly. She’d walked down the aisle on the arm of her father, both beaming with happiness and pride. When she reached him, they’d spent the ceremony getting lost in each other’s eyes, once or twice needing prompting from the preacher to pay attention. They’d exchanged vows, been pronounced as man and wife, and then they’d kissed in front of everyone they loved.

Kazuto felt his eyes well with tears as he remembered the looked on their daughter’s face when she saw her mother in her wedding dress for the first time. She’d gasped and announced that she looked like a princess, dreamily rambling about the day she’d find a prince of her own.

‘God, if I could live in that day forever, I would.’ He took a long sip from his new glass of whiskey, letting the alcohol numb the pain of what would have been his second wedding anniversary. A short-lived marriage that her parents had called “fated for a bitter end,'' despite what the young lovers had believed.

Before his memory could hurt him any more than it already had, he felt someone bump into him. He turned around, expecting to see some young girl obviously out drinking for the first time, or a tough-looking guy clearly no stranger to the bar. 

What he wasn’t expecting to see was a blond-haired boy, more than a bit too drunk, looking at him with the most intoxicating emerald eyes he’d ever seen. Light blush dusted his cheeks, most likely from the alcohol.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to -- hic! -- bump into you,” He blushed, stepping back to the stool next to Kazuto’s.

“Nah, it’s fine,” he shrugged, taking another sip of his drink, “first time?”

The boy blushed harder and looked away. 

“Is it that obvious?” He asked. Kazuto wasn’t sure, but he was almost certain he heard him stifle a giggle.

“Kinda…” He paused, the effects of too many glasses of alcohol hitting him all at once.

They spoke for a while, time seeming to go too fast for their clouded minds to comprehend. Kazuto ordered more drinks for the both of them, the pair drinking until the bartender cut off their supply.

As the alcohol flowed so too did conversation. They spoke about everything that came to mind, their brains far too past sober to remember a sentence past the time it left their lips. 

“You, you know, if you wanna get, if you wanna get drunk more…” Kazuto slurred, the alcohol clouding his mind.

“Are you okay?” The blond asked, rising to his feet. He rose too quickly, stumbling and falling into the black-haired boy’s lap. He held out his hands to stop himself falling, not realizing where his hand had fallen until it was too late.

“Ah, s-sorry!” He pulled his hand back, blushing furiously as he looked up at Kazuto.

“What’re you apologizin’ for?” he asked, words slurred.

“I, my hand touched, I accidentally grabbed your, well I accidentally-“

“Oh, right,” Kazuto finished the last sip of his drink before standing up. Much like his newfound drinking buddy, he fell forward, crashing on top of the bar.

“Hey, you should get home,” The green-eyed boy said, lifting Kazuto by the arms. “I can walk with you if you want?”

Kazuto couldn’t form a coherent sentence, instead simply nodding his head and beginning to lead the other boy to his house a few streets away.

“Are you sure you’ll be okay alone?” The blond asked before panicking, “I-I mean, not like that! I meant -- hic! -- are you sure you won’t need any help?”

“If you wanted to, to stay with me, you could've just said so,” Kazuto said, stumbling on a half-chuckle as they turn onto his street. He was leaning heavily on the other boy’s shoulders, too drunk to support himself.

“This, this is it, my house,” Kazuto fumbled in retrieving the key from his pocket, then fumbled trying to unlock the front door. It groaned on old hinges, Kazuto pushing it open before he all but fell onto the floor of his entryway.

“Are you okay?” Kazuto was pulled to his feet by his now-sobering companion. 

“I’m fine, just…” They locked eyes for a moment, suddenly realizing their closeness. 

Kazuto wasn’t quite sure what it was, maybe the alcohol still flowing through his system, maybe the feelings of anxiety and fear of never finding love again, maybe the way this enchanting stranger had him so easily entranced. 

Whatever it was, it was enough to make him move his head forward ever so slightly, lips always grazing the corner of the other boy’s mouth. He hesitated for a moment before their lips met once more, all Kazuto’s troubles from the evening melting to the back of his mind.

The effects of the alcohol had long-since taken control of his senses and actions. He couldn’t think straight. All he could think of was the fact that he was single, miserable, very drunk, and alone with a man who looked like the perfect distraction.

He could deal with the hangover tomorrow, for now, he had much more interesting plans...


	2. And So It Begins...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> To save himself from embarrassment, and the fear of losing his daughter, Kazuto starts a lie he isn't sure if he can work his way out of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A much longer chapter!! And surprisingly soon! I've fallen for this fic ♥ I hope you all enjoy it, and comments/kudos/shares are appreciated!! I'd love to hear your thoughts!   
TW: Alcohol mention, implied smut.

Kazuto rolled over in bed, groaning at the pounding in his head.

‘What… happened last night?’ he thought as he combed back through this memory. He remembered getting home from work, going to the bar, and having a few too many drinks, but after that it was a blur.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound from beside him. He opened his eyes slowly, only to find a pair of deep emerald eyes staring back at him.

“Ah!” He moved back to the other side of the bed, pulling the blankets tighter around his waist. “Who are you? What are you doing in my bed?”

The blond beside him blinked slowly, yawned, then proceeded to fall back to sleep. Kazuto tried shaking him awake, but to no avail. He slowly pulled the covers from him, before promptly throwing them back over him to cover his nude form.

Kazuto took a deep breath, pinching the bridge of his nose as he fell back onto his pillow. He’d taken someone home. He’d slept with a total stranger. What would his aunt think? What kind of example was he setting for his daughter?

“Kazuto, are you awake?” 

Kazuto was sent into a panic at the sound of his ex-wife calling from the front door. She, no doubt, had their daughter with her. He rolled over to look at his bedside clock - 7:14, she was more than an hour early.

“Look, I know you’re probably sleeping but I have a flight to catch this morning!” He heard the sound of his door opening, followed by the sound of a pair of footsteps excitedly racing down his hall.

His bedroom door swung open before he could form a sentence. A young girl with long, jet-black hair stood in the doorway, a young woman following close behind her.

“Sorry, I have a bu- oh?” The woman paused, noticing the second body lying next to the man she’d once been married to. “Yui, go wait in daddy’s living room for me, okay?” The girl nodded her head and ran off.

“Asuna, I can explain,” Kazuto began, sighing.

“Explain what?” She asked, leaning against the doorframe. “Explain that you found someone else who makes you happy?”

“Wait, what?”

“Listen, I’m not mad,” she said softly, “I wish I had a little more notice so I didn’t have to walk in on… this…” she motioned her head towards the scene she’d walked in on, “but I’m really happy for you, Kazuto.”

“No, you have the wrong idea.” Kazuto wasn’t sure how to explain to her that he was absolutely not dating this man. How could he explain he’d jumped into bed with a man he’d met only hours before? Was that something you were supposed to mention to your ex? 

Asuna stood in the doorway, watching Kazuto think to himself. How was he meant to explain that to her? Would she let him see Yui? Of course she wouldn’t, what sort of person would leave their child in the hands of someone so irresponsible?

“I was meant to tell you sooner,” he stammered, “we’ve been dating for a couple of months now. But we’re still very private, and he’s still shy so could we have this conversation another time? Preferably when I’m wearing clothes?”

Asuna laughed, stepping back out into the hallway.

“Have fun with Yui, and be careful, okay?” She called out. “I’m sorry for leaving like this but I have a flight to catch. Have fun you three!”

He heard her saying goodbye to Yui, before he listened to her fading footsteps out his front door. Gone again.

“Hm?” 

Kirito looked down at the man stirring next to him. He sat up, blinking his eyes to adjust to not only the light streaming in through the open curtains, but also to the no-doubt blindingly painful headache he had.

“Morning, sleeping beauty.” Kirito chuckled, “Think you’re sober enough to remember your name?”

“Uh, Eugeo,” the blond replied, pulling the blankets around his shoulders. He yawned before sleepily looking over at Kazuto, “What about yours?”

“Kazuto,” he reached his hand over to offer it to Eugeo, who shook his hand firmly in response, flashing him a goofy grin.

“Was that your girlfriend just now?” He asked, motioning his head towards where Asuna had been standing moments earlier. Kazuto sighed heavily, leaning his head against the wall. This would be interesting to explain…

“Well, not exactly,” he began, “she’s actually my wife. Ex-wife, I should say. In fact,” Kazuto moved to sit on the edge of his bed, using a pillow to cover himself, “our daughter’s in my living room right now.”

“You have a kid? Can I meet her? What’s her name? What’s she like? Does she look like you?”

“Woah, woah, woah, slow down there. Did you hear anything I told Asuna just before?” Kazuto asked, reaching to the floor to grab his pants, trying to pull them on without exposing himself.

“Uh,” Eugeo tried to recall the conversation he’d barely heard, “you told her we were dating right?”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” he pulled on his shirt and stood up, “it was the best I could come up with. If she found out I’d had a one night stand, I’m not sure if she’d let me keep seeing Yui and-”

“Hey, you don’t have to explain that,” Eugeo offered him a warm smile, “I guess I’m your fake boyfriend now, at least until we can come up with a better explanation. Does that work?”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Kazuto threw Eugeo’s clothes to him from where they’d been discarded on the floor, “I’ll be out there making breakfast, but I totally get if you wanna just stay in bed for a while.”

Eugeo nodded his head and Kazuto walked to the living room. He was immediately greeted by his daughter, who leaped into his arms, giggling and kissing his cheek.

“Hey, kid! How have you been?” He asked, ruffling her hair affectionately as he carried her to the kitchen.

“Good! I missed you, though.” The girl sighed and climbed from her father’s arms, sitting herself at the table. “What were you and mommy talking about earlier?”

“Oh, right,” Kazuto panicked for a moment before taking a deep breath and sitting at the seat across from her. “Yui, I want you to know that I love you so much, and nothing that happens will ever change that, okay?

Yui nodded her head slowly, resting her elbows on the table and placing her chin on the palm of her hand. “It’s okay daddy, you can do it!” She grinned. Kazuto smiled back at her. She was so cheerful, even through everything the small family had been through in the past year.

“You’re the best kid ever, you know that?” He gave her a goofy grin. “Remember when your mommy and I told you that someday we might meet new people that we wanted to be with?”

Yui gasped and started clapping her hands together, jumping from her chair and running around the kitchen like an excitable chipmunk.

“Calm down, kiddo,” Kazuto chuckled, “We’re still working stuff out. But he’s really nice and I’m sure he’ll love you,”

“Of course he’ll love me, I’m adorable!” Yui giggled, making her father laugh again. 

She was such a character, the perfect combination of Asuna’s strong will and determination and Kazuto’s looks and sharp wit. Their perfect little miracle.

He could still remember Asuna calling him in tears one morning, begging him to see her before school, saying it was an emergency and that he needed to be there.

He’d hurried over, nearly running three red lights as he raced to be at her side. He’d found the door unlocked, Asuna’s sobs echoing from the bathroom. He’d thrown open the door, finding her in a ball on the floor. He’d dropped to his knees and comforted her, wanting nothing more than to take away her pain.

He could still remember those two blue lines.

Through all their caution, they’d still messed up. Big time. Nothing could take that away, there was no easy fix. This was going to change their lives.

Even the memory of Asuna’s tear-stained face telling him it was okay to dump her brought pain to his chest. How could he ever leave her? 

“I promise,” he’d said soothingly as he rubbed her back, “that we’ll get through this together like we always do. Always.”

“Daddy?” Yui’s voice snapped him out of his reminiscing.

“Sorry kid, you want pancakes?” He walked to the cupboard, Yui following close behind him as she peered over the top of the counter.

This was the way he loved spending his mornings. With his daughter, being lighthearted and goofy, listening to her telling stories about her life, though most of them had been embellished thoroughly, as most things tend to be when they come from the mind of an imaginative eight-year-old.

“-and then mommy and I went and got ice cream and she let me lick some of her ice cream, too!” Yui grinned up at her father, her onyx eyes shining the same way his did.

“That sounds great, Yui!” He handed her a plate, taking a plate for himself back to the table to eat.

They ate together quietly, Kazuto still trying to think of a way out of the hole he’d dug himself and Eugeo into. He could just tell Asuna the truth when she came to collect Yui the following week.

Couldn’t he…?


	3. Meeting His Daughter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eugeo meets Yui, who’s excited to meet her father’s newest source of joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi all! A bit of a shorter chapter, I apologise!! I’m sick right now, but the next chapter will be longer!

Eugeo woke up in an unfamiliar bed. He took a few moments to adjust to the bright lights of the room, trying to remember what had happened before he’d fallen asleep.

Oh.

He could hear muffled voices somewhere else in the house, which he assumed was Kazuto and his daughter. 

It was a surprise. Eugeo wouldn’t have picked him to be the father type. The night before he’d seemed so troubled and distracted. The house, or at least what he’d seen of it, hadn’t looked like the home a father would live in. It had clutter across the bedroom floor, which Eugeo had nearly tripped over when he climbed out of bed.

He looked around the room in the daylight. A double bed with dark gray covers, a laundry basket overflowing with shirts and pants, and two bedside tables littered with clutter.

Upon closer inspection, Eugeo noticed a collection of small picture frames. 

One was of a teenage boy, obviously Kazuto, holding a small bundle in his arms, wrapped lovingly in a pink blanket. He gazed lovingly down at the baby in his arms, one hand under the corner of the blanket, it seemed like he was holding one of the baby’s hands.

‘This must be the daughter,’ Eugeo thought.

The second photo was of Kazuto dressed in a suit, the little girl at his left side in a light pink dress. To his right was a light-haired young woman in the most beautiful wedding gown Eugeo had ever laid eyes on, a simple yet elegant skirt spilled down from her hips, long lace sleeves covered her arms, and her hair tumbled down her shoulders in gentle curls.

‘And this must be Asuna,’ 

They certainly seemed to be in love, gazing at each other with so much adoration and tenderness that Eugeo felt he was there in the moment with them.

‘It’s strange to think that they’re not together now,’ Eugeo thought glumly.

The final picture was of Kazuto holding a little girl in his arms, both wearing flower crowns and holding plastic tea cups. He was blushing, the girl was grinning from ear to ear.

Eugeo smiled and finished pulling on his shirt. So Kazuto had a daughter who he adored. He obviously cared about her, that much was obvious from the pictures and the ridiculous lie he’d told.

He walked from the bedroom down the hall, following the sound of voices until he reached the kitchen. 

“H-hey there,” he grinned in the doorway. Kazuto grinned up at him. Yui jumped from her chair, nearly tripping over herself as she rushed to him.

“Hi! I’m Yui and I’m eight! What’s your name?”

Eugeo bent down so he was at eye level with her, smiling warmly at her.

“Hey there Yui! I’m Eugeo and I’m twenty-three,”

“Woah, you’re so old!” Yui gasped, looking at him closer before skipping back over to her dad. “Daddy he’s cute! Can we keep him?”

“Yeah, Kazuto, can you keep me?” Eugeo teased, walking over to give him an awkward hug while Kazuto finished his breakfast.

“Well when you ask with those puppy dog eyes how could I say no?” Kazuto asked, giving Eugeo a knowing glance. “Okay, Yui, can you go brush your teeth so Eugeo and I can have grown up talk?”

“Okay!”

Yui happily skipped down the hallway to the bathroom while Eugeo pulled a third seat from the dining table, sitting next to Kazuto.

“Hey, boyfriend,” he smirked. Kazuto sighed and leant back in his chair.

“Well, Yui seems happy with you,” he chuckled. But his smile faded, instead he sighed deeply. “We cannot under any circumstances let her get too attached. I can’t handle her heartbroken,”

“Well maybe we should have a disagreement over something and we can be broken up by the end of the day,” Eugeo suggested. Kazuto sighed again.

“Not today, not yet. I can’t do it with Yui here. Wait until Asuna comes back.”

“Oh?” Eugeo quirked an eyebrow.

“Yui would be crushed, she’s so excited that I’ve found someone. Asuna’s new partner isn’t exactly the best to either of them. I want her to have one week with two good parents, can you give her that?”

Eugeo nodded his head. He knew too well the struggles of not having supportive parents. He could fake it for a week, especially if it meant seeing her smile like that more often.

“She’s a good kid,” Kazuto smiled to himself, looking up at the ceiling, “she has her mother’s laugh. Asuna and I had her before we finished school, and she was the greatest baby. So easy to care for.”

“I can tell she’s got you wrapped around her little finger,” Eugeo laughed, thinking back to the pictures he’d seen.

“Oh, totally,” Kazuto rolled his eyes playfully, “I’ve been wrapped around her finger since the day she was born. She looked up at me with those adorable eyes and, well, my sister says I cried more than Yui did.”

He chuckled again at the memory, making Eugeo laugh too.

They heard Yui running back to the kitchen, bounding into the room with so much energy it made them both break into huge grins.

“Can we go for a walk daddy? And we can take Eugeo to the park we always go to! Oh, and get ice cream! Please?”

Kazuto stood up, motioning his head for Eugeo to stand up too. The pair of them each followed Yui out the front door, Kazuto holding her hand firmly as they walked onto the footpath.

“We’re gonna have so much fun, Eugeo!” She grinned.

“Aha, I’m sure this week will be plenty of fun!” He smiled back.

Fun, and most certainly interesting.


	4. Sweet Kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuto and Eugeo take Yui to the park, but ice cream isn’t the only sweet thing on Eugeo’s mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Terribly sorry for the late update. I was unwell and wasn’t up to writing. I’m doing much better now and I’m excited to write again. I adore this fic. ♥️   
Please let me know if there’s any spelling/grammar errors (not specifically on this chapter, any of them!). Not only do I have to struggle to write with dyslexia, I also have to struggle to write with my phone. I’m very sorry!!  
Please enjoy!♥️♥️♥️

Eugeo walked alongside Yui and Kirito, listening to the girl telling stories to him. Most of them were about her mother.

From what the girl had told him, Asuna was a loving and sweet woman who adored her daughter more than anything, but was constantly under pressure from her strict parents.

“Oh, does your mother still live at home?” Eugeo asked as Yui told another story.

“Of course we live at a home, Eugeo, any house is a home if there’s love in it!” Yui giggled. She didn’t get to answer his question before she rushed off to the playground, running for the swing set.

Kazuto smiled lovingly as his daughter almost forgot he was there, immediately becoming engrossed in her imaginary world she’d created there on the swing.

“To answer your question,” Kazuto said, turning back to Eugeo, “she does. Her parents recommended that she moved back in with them after the divorce, since they were worried she couldn’t handle being a single parent and living alone.”

“Ah,” Eugeo nodded his head in understanding.

The pair of them walked casually around the park, Kazuto occasionally looking back at Yui to check on her. The conversation was mainly centred on their new relationship, and how to go about it.

“We cannot, under any circumstances, get Yui attached to you,” Kazuto told him firmly.

“Well, what if you get attached to me?” Eugeo asked playfully, a smirk appearing on his face as he looked over to see a blushing Kazuto.

“Won’t happen,” he mumbled, turning his head to look back at Yui, and hide his blushing cheeks.

Eugeo grinned to himself. So he got embarrassed easily, huh? He could most certainly use that to his advantage.

They walked for a while longer, before Kazuto decided to turn back towards the playground to check on Yui. He was fiercely protective of her, which Eugeo supposed would be the natural reaction of a young, single parent. Yui truly was his world, of course he’d protect her.

Yui skipped back over to her father, putting her hands on her hips and pouting.

“Daddy, why don’t you and Eugeo kiss?” She asked.

Kazuto and Eugeo were both taken aback. Neither of them quite knew how to respond.

“When you and mommy were married,” Yui continued, “you were kissing all the time! It was gross!” She stuck her tongue out for effect, “But you haven’t kissed Eugeo once!”

“Ah, that’s because-“

“Yeah, why haven’t we kissed yet?” Eugeo asked. He turned to face Kazuto, over exaggerating the act of putting his hands on his hips to mimic Yui.

‘Oh, we’ve done much more than that…’ Kazuto thought to himself. Why was Eugeo playing along? 

“Fine! You wanna kiss? I’ll kiss you so good you won’t see straight for a week!” Kazuto took a determined step forward, looking into Eugeo’s emerald green eyes.

The determination faded away as soon as he realised how close he’d put himself. Eugeo simply smirked and took Kazuto’s hands in his, slowly leaning in towards him.

Kazuto closed the gap between them, the pair of them closing their eyes in bliss as the world around them melted. 

So this is what it felt for them to kiss while sober.

Kazuto’s hands worked their way to his waist, gently pulling him closer, while Eugeo blushed furiously. He hadn’t expected to get this far. 

“Ew! Daddy that’s gross!” Yui covered her eyes with her hands.

Kazuto and Eugeo pulled away from each other. Eugeo pressed his forehead against Kazuto’s, once again rejoining their hands.

“You’re pretty good at that,” he said softly. Kazuto chuckled and pulled away.

“I guess I have experience, you know, being married and whatnot.” He looked back to Yui, who was still recovering from the sight of her father so boldly kissing someone.

“As for you, little miss,” he grinned, picking her up and putting her on his shoulders, “ice cream time?”

“Yay!” Yui clapped her hands excitedly before gripping onto her father’s hair as he carried her to the ice cream store on the edge of the park.

Eugeo trailed behind them, still blushing from their kiss.

He was amazing at it, that much Eugeo already knew. But the feeling that coursed through his veins as they kissed again, that feeling was indescribable. He was drunk on something so much stronger than the alcohol from the night before.

“Oi, you coming or what?” Kazuto called out. Eugeo picked up his pace, apologising profusely for lagging behind.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” Kazuto asked as they walked along.

‘Oh, just the thought of kissing you again, but I cannot say that out loud…’ Eugeo thought.

“Thinking about what ice cream flavor I want!” He grinned. “Yui, what’s your favorite?”

“Hmm…” Yui pondered the question for a moment. Of course, ice cream was serious business, she had to be careful to choose her answer.

“Strawberry,” she said finally, nodding her head in satisfaction at her choice. Eugeo smiled.

“I love strawberry, too! Have you tried chocolate chip ice cream, though? That’s my favorite by far!”

“That’s daddy’s favorite!” Yui gasped.

“It sure it, kiddo!” He told her enthusiastically, bending down to let her climb off his shoulders.

Eugeo opened the door to the ice cream parlour, holding it open as Kazuto and Yui walked in. The pair of them practically ran to the counter filled with every kind of ice cream you could imagine, excitedly talking about which ones they’d get.

Eugeo watched them with interest. Kazuto intently listened as Yui went through a carefully devised and well thought out list of flavors and combinations. Some were ranked based on taste, some were ranked based on how they looked, and some were ranked based on how much extra ice cream the workers would put into the cone when she ordered it.

‘They must come here a lot,’ Eugeo guessed as Yui placed her order. Kazuto placed his as well, then ordered a chocolate chip cone for Eugeo.

The three of them collected their ice creams, thanking the lady behind the counter before beginning their treats.

“Strawberry for me, and choc chip for Eugeo and daddy!” Yui grinned before starting to lick the cream melting down the side of her cone.

Eugeo made a start on his too, however, Kazuto first took out his phone and snapped a picture of the two of them.

He turned the screen around to show a picture of Eugeo and Yui both grinning as they licked their ice cream, a stray chocolate chip on Eugeo’s cheek.

“Cute!” Yui clapped.

“I’ll send it to you later, if you want?” Kazuto offered Eugeo, who nodded through a mouthful of ice cream.

Kazuto took a lick of his, more focused on the other two.

Eugeo was really good with kids, that much Kazuto could tell. He was nervous, of course, but he was excitable and playful, not unlike a child in his own nature.

‘He’d make an amazing step-dad,’ Kazuto noted, before shaking his head to clear the thought away. He couldn’t get attached. He wasn’t getting attached.

Was he?


	5. He Could Try

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Back at home, Kazuto and Yui talk about Eugeo. Meanwhile, Eugeo himself has a revelation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HI! I'm SO sorry this is so late! 2,000 words of father-daughter and fake boyfriend fluff to make up for it! ♥♥♥ PS: I'll have an explanation in the notes at the end of the chapter if anybody would like to know why this took so long. PS x2: please tell me if this is formatted right I think I did something wrong ( ﾟдﾟ)

After a long day at the park, the young family made their way home. 

Yui was excitedly talking about her weekend with her mother, chatting to Eugeo so much so that Kazuto thought she bordered onto overbearing. But Eugeo smiled and nodded along with her, chiming in with a joke or a question every now and then. He wasn’t faking being attentive like Kazuto had expected, he seemed to be truly enjoying the girl’s company.

_ That’s so sweet of him, _ Kazuto thought as he watched the pair of them laugh about a joke they’d made. They’d already made several inside jokes. Kazuto had asked about one of them, to which Yui had responded by glaring at him and yelling that he “wouldn’t understand.”

“Hey, Yui, does your mommy have another husband?” Eugeo asked. Kazuto opened his mouth to stop him but found himself silent. If he was being honest, he wanted to know, too.

“Uh-huh,” Yui nodded her head glumly, “but he isn’t really nice. He doesn’t like me much.”

“Well, obviously he’s not nice. What kind of good man would ever not like an angel like you?” Eugeo asked, holding Yui’s hand as they crossed a street. Yui giggled and held Eugeo’s hand tighter.

Kazuto sighed. Of course, Asuna was still with  _ him _ . Her parents were holding her financial security over her head, after all.

Asuna’s family was quite wealthy. Her parents owned the largest tech company in Japan, possibly the world, and as a result, Asuna was expected to carry on the family legacy and grow the business. However, her parents planned for her to do so using questionable methods. Namely, arranging a marriage between Asuna and the CEO of another large company. 

Asuna had objected and protested the marriage at every turn, but her parents had threatened to cut off her money. As much as Asuna was strong and independent, she couldn’t avoid the fact that she couldn’t financially support herself and a child. Working part-time hours could only do so much, and she wouldn't feel right asking Kazuto for more money.

So she’d eventually relented, and the marriage had continued.

Kazuto didn’t know much about her new husband, except that Yui had only spoken about him briefly, and it had never been good. Asuna tended to avoid the topic entirely.

“Dude?” Eugeo waved a hand in front of Kazuto face. 

“Ah, sorry,” Kazuto unlocked his front door, letting the other two inside. Yui ran to her room, announcing that she was going to be making a blanket fort for her stuffed animals. Kazuto warned her to be careful before he and Eugeo made their way to the living room.

The pair of them flopped dramatically onto Kazuto’s couch, sighing.

“She’s a real ball of energy, huh?” Eugeo chuckled. Kazuto nodded in agreement, resting his head against Eugeo’s shoulder.

“So, what other family do you have?”

“Well, it’s pretty complicated,” Kazuto began, “My parents died when I was a kid, and my father’s sister adopted me. So there’s me, my aunt and my uncle. Then there’s Suguha, my cousin. Well, I say cousin, but legally she’s my sister, and that’s how I think of her, too.”

Kazuto smiled almost sadly at the thought. He’d never known his real parents, he was too grown now to even remember their faces outside of the pictures his aunt had shown him.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to talk about it if it’s upsetting,” Eugeo told him comfortingly. Kazuto cuddled into Eugeo’s side. “You know, Kazuto, if I didn’t know better I’d think you were getting attached to me,” Eugeo teased.

Kazuto rolled his eyes but didn’t pull away. “I’m just tired, that’s all,” he mumbled. 

Eugeo made a quiet “ah” of sarcastic understanding before he adjusted himself on the couch to allow Kazuto to lay on his chest more comfortably. He ran his fingers through Kirito’s jet-black hair for a while, getting far more comfortable than he should have been with a man he’d known for all of two days.

“Warm,” Kazuto yawned. He put his hand underneath his head on Eugeo’s chest.

The blond blushed. Was Kazuto like this with all his friends, or was this special treatment reserved for his fake boyfriend? Eugeo sighed in contentment, closing his eyes gently. He wasn’t meant to be catching feelings. He wasn’t catching feelings. He was just…  _ comfortable _ .

Kazuto didn’t know how long it had been since he fell asleep, but when he woke up, it was dark, he was hungry, and his hand was cramping. 

He sat up sleepily, rubbing his eyes and looking around the room. Eugeo was asleep on the couch, gently snoring. Kazuto watched him for a moment before he climbed off him and walked towards Yui’s room.

He opened the door slightly, finding the girl asleep underneath her blanket fort. It was suspended from the shelf on the wall above her bed, taped on with tape Kazuto could only hope was easy to remove. She’d tucked the other side of the blanket under her bed and held it in place with a dollhouse and a chair.

Yui’s eyes fluttered open at the sound of her father’s footsteps.

“Hey, my little snuggle bug,” Kazuto laughed lightly, stepping into her room. Yui yawned and smiled up at him as he bent down beside her bed. He softly kissed her forehead andbrushed stray hair from her eyes. “I think it’s time for you to get a haircut again, little lady,” he told her.

She shook her head. “Mommy said she’ll cut it for me next week,” she yawned again. Kazuto turned on her bedside lamp and got more comfortable on the floor beside her. 

“What do you want for dinner?” He asked. Yui shrugged lightly, reaching out to hold her father’s hand.

“Can we just eat cake?” She asked. Kazuto laughed again and nodded his head. 

“If you want to,” he told her, “Eugeo and I fell asleep, so we didn’t have anything cooked. I have some cake from a few days ago if you want to finish that off with me?”

Yui nodded happily, but neither of them made an effort to get up. Kazuto laid his head on Yui’s bed looking off absentmindedly at her wall as the girl stared up at the ceiling.

“Hey, what do you think of Eugeo?” he asked. He couldn’t see her face, but he could tell she smiled.

“I like him! He’s funny and he listens to me talking and he makes you happy!”

Kazuto blushed. Eugeo  _ did  _ make him happy. Probably too happy for someone he wasn’t meant to actually be dating.

“Do you think you’d like him around forever?” 

The words had left Kazuto’s mouth before he could really process them, not that he cared to. It was late, and it was just the two of them. He could tell Yui anything and it would stay between them. That was their thing, their pact. No matter what happened, they could talk to each other. Kazuto didn’t want her to be afraid of sharing things with him, it was exactly what he and Asuna had made sure of. They wanted their daughter to be comfortable with them so that if she ever needed help, she knew they were there for her.

“I’d like him around forever and ever,” Yui said.

Kazuto smiled. “Me too, kid.”

If they hadn’t been so focused on their conversation, they would’ve heard footsteps in the hallway outside Yui’s door, and if they’d listened a bit closer, they would’ve heard Eugeo small gasp at their exchange.

He quickly hurried back to the living room. He’d woken up from his nap after noticing Kazuto was gone and had been intending to ask about dinner plans, but it felt it felt like the wrong time now. They were having a father-daughter moment, he didn’t want to intrude on that.

Although, he was now having a moment of his own. Alone, on Kazuto’s uncomfortable living room couch, Eugeo was having one of the most wild-changing revelations of his life.

_ Two days _ , he thought,  _ and I’d already like to spend forever with him _ . 

It was too soon, far too soon, for anything so bold. If they intended to be together, it would start slowly at first, if at all, then all at once, like the stories he’d read about when he was younger. He laid back, imaging moments of them holding hands again, kissing as they had earlier in the day, long nights like the one they’d first spent together. Being together without a catch or a deal, no “it’s only for this week”s or “this isn’t real”s.

“Eugeo?” Kazuto walked into the room, smiling to himself about something. Eugeo looked up at him, flustered.

‘H-hey! How’s Yui?” The blond asked. Kazuto shrugged and took a seat next to him on the couch.

“Sleepy,” he said. Eugeo nodded his head, and the pair fell into an awkward silence. They felt like they should have been doing  _ something _ . Kazuto reached out for Eugeo’s hand slowly, carefully intertwining their fingers. They looked over at each other, smiling softly before looking down at their hands awkwardly.

“I, uh, have a half-eaten cake in the fridge, if you wanna share it?” Kazuto suggested. Eugeo nodded, and they walked hand-in-hand to the kitchen, where Kazuto retrieved the cake, and Eugeo got two plates.

They walked back to Kazuto’s room, changing for bed, before lying down with their plates.

“Don’t get crumbs on my sheets, I just washed them,” Kazuto warned. Eugeo looked the sheets over, then looked back to Kazuto.

“You  _ just _ washed them?” He asked incrediously. Kazuto nodded his head and Eugeo sighed. “I’m sorry, like, you washed them? In a washing machine? With water and soap? Did you turn the machine on?”

Kazuto laughed through a cake slice. “Yes!” He laughed. “I washed them just last week, I’ll have you know!”

“No wonder you need a husband, you can’t even do chores for yourself,” Eugeo muttered sarcastically. Kazuto gasped in mock offence.

“Eugeo! I’m so hurt that you think I’m not capable of washing my own bedsheets!” His voice was way past a whisper, almost yelling, though Yui probably still wouldn’t have been able to hear him.

Eugeo chuckled and took another bite of cake, putting his leg over Kazuto’s. Kazuto returned the favor, placing his other leg on top of Eugeo’s. They locked eyes for a moment before they both repeated the process of trying to put their leg on top of the other. It became a small competition, which Kazuto managed to win by stealing a kiss from Eugeo and distracting him.

“I win,” he smirked, laying his head down on his pillow. Eugeo pulled the blanket over the top of both of them.

Kazuto thought he looked like he wanted to say something, but before Kazuto could ask, Eugeo had said goodnight.

“Night, Eugeo,” Kazuto mumbled in response, already falling asleep. 

It felt nice, to fall asleep next to someone again. It had felt nice waking up next to someone, too. He’d never tell Eugeo that, though. He couldn’t. They only had another six days together, after all. Then Eugeo would move on, and they’d likely never speak again. That was how all one night stands went. Spend a wild night together, then pretend it never happened.

Six days, that was all he had left with this beautiful stranger. He had six days to either make it last or break his own heart. Did he want it to last? He wasn’t even sure. They barely knew each other. Kazuto didn’t know anything about him, except that he was the most intriguing person he’d known. He didn’t know him well enough to fall in love, not yet anyway, but he certainly knew enough to give him a reason to try. 

They could try. By the week’s end, Kazuto wanted to be able to say he’d tried. Tried to fall in love, tried to keep Eugeo around, tried to move on.

_ But could he? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... thank you for reading that! It's the longest chapter I've written for, well, anything! But I feel like NOTHING happened lol. I'll have to work on that.  
With that being said, thanks for sticking around for a month while I uploaded this "-_-   
It's been an exhausting month, a lot of family stuff, some gender-questioning*, and a healthy dose of "my friend recommended that I watch this show called Bananya and now I've procrastinated writing to cry over cute banana cats.   
I've also started another Alicization fic, "Buried With Our Pasts," if you're interested. It's going to be a more thriller kinda thing I'm trying. Not sure if I'm any good at it. But that's been fun!   
Anyway, thanks for sticking around, I love y'all and I really appreciate it! ♥♥♥  
*I'm still using they/them, if you were wondering :)


	6. Spring Cleaning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Kazuto is at work, Eugeo takes it upon himself to clean the house, making an interesting discovery for himself along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS LIKE A MONTH LATE AND I'M SO SORRY-  
Please have a long chapter to make up for my incompetence ;-;

Kazuto woke early - a rare occurrence for him - and looked sleepily at Eugeo. The blond was sleeping, an arm outstretched to rest on Kazuto’s chest. Kazuto smiled fondly at him. It felt nice to wake up next to someone again, especially someone so cute.

Kazuto shook the thought from his head. He couldn’t fall for Eugeo. The thoughts from the night before had come from a tired and stressed Kazuto, a delusional Kazuto. He couldn’t fall for him, he wouldn’t let himself fall for him.

Still, he allowed himself to scoot closer to him, holding his hand gently as he closed his eyes once more. A few minutes of sleep would be okay, he’d allow himself that much.

Eventually, he regretfully pulled away, climbing out of bed and retrieving clean clothes from the floor by his bedside table. Well, as clean as clothes could be, considering he hardly did laundry anymore. He pulled the clothes on hurriedly, running his hands through his hair in favour of actually brushing it.

“Yui, c’mon, we’ll be late!” He called as he knocked on her bedroom door on his way to the kitchen. He heard her scrambling around her room and hoped she was getting dressed. He couldn’t afford to be late today.

He’d been late Taking Yui to school at least once every week he’d had her for the past two months. Her teachers were getting concerned, and so was Asuna. The last time she’d come to collect Yui for the weekend, Kazuto had heard her and her new husband arguing in the car about Kazuto being an incapable parent and that they’d do much better at raising Yui on their own. 

Asuna had shouted at him to shut up, that Kazuto was managing just fine, and that she had full faith in him. When she’d gotten out of the car and slammed the door as she walked up to Kazuto’s door, he could’ve sworn he heard a muttered “I wouldn’t want her around you, anyway,” but he didn’t ask. He’d been told too many times to leave them to their business.

Yui walked into the kitchen, tugging on her father’s sleeve.

“You’ve been distracted a bunch, daddy, is everything okay?” she asked as she began to make herself a bowl of cereal and a glass of orange juice.

Kazuto lovingly watched her for a few seconds before popping a slice of bread in the toaster, “I’m fine, just got a lot on my mind.”

Almost mechanically, Kazuto looked at the clock on the kitchen wall and sputtered. He took the toast out early, shoving it in his mouth and grabbing Yui’s hand. The girl managed to pick up her bowl of cereal, carrying it with her and her father rushed out of the house.

“Your mother’s gonna kill me,” he mumbled as he grabbed Yui’s backpack and clumsily stumbled out of the door. “Go get in the car and be careful eating, I need to get my keys,” 

He ducked back inside the house, calling out to Eugeo, before he grabbed his keys from the hook by the door and hurried to his car. He was going to make it to the school on time, he only hoped he could make it to work without his boss noticing he was late.

The drive to Yui’s school was stressful, Kazuto occasionally cursing at various drivers as Yui told him to calm down.

Kazuto’s phone rang in the backseat and he asked Yui to answer it. 

“Hello, daddy’s phone!” She answered cheerily.

“Hey, Yui! Is your daddy there?” Eugeo asked sleepily through the phone. Yui nodded and explained he was driving. “Ah, that makes sense,” Eugeo mumbled, “I’m calling to ask if I’m allowed to do some cleaning at your house, this place is a mess,” 

“Daddy, Eugeo says our house is messy and wants to know if he can clean it!” Yui repeated.

Kazuto rolled his eyes, “My house is fine, Eugeo.” He grumbled.

“Okay, I’ll clean it before you get back!” Eugeo replied with a laugh, though Kazuto couldn’t hear. Then he added in a quieter voice, “Don’t tell your father I said that,”

Yui giggled and said okay, then they hung up the phone.

“He’s gonna clean my house, isn’t he?” Kazuto sighed, defeated. Yui’s giggling answered his question.

Meanwhile, Eugeo was busying himself in preparation for a day of cleaning.

First, he took himself around the house, familiarizing himself with the layout and rooms, before trying to find cleaning products, though he highly doubted Kazuto owned any. After all, his house was obviously rarely cleaned, and Eugeo had a sneaking suspicion that Kazuto’s idea of “cleaning” was to push his clothes under his bed and throw whatever was lying on the floors into cupboards or the trash. 

But not today. Today, Eugeo vowed to clean the entire house until it shone. Of course, he didn’t know why he was even bothering. He wouldn’t be staying in the house much longer. Then he was struck by the realisation that, in five days, he and Kazuto would “break up” and they’d go back to their normal lives. Eugeo wouldn’t get to eat cake in bed at midnight with Kazuto anymore, wouldn’t be able to watch his cute sleeping face, wouldn’t have the chance to steal kisses from him as they fell asleep, even when there was nobody to keep up their act for.

‘An act,’ Eugeo reminded himself, ‘that’s all this is.’

This was just their performance, their illusion. They did enough to convince people they were madly in love, while they did their best to convince themselves that they weren’t. Their show ran effortlessly for their audience, so why was it that after the curtain fell, they found themselves still playing their parts?

‘We’re doing this so he can still see his daughter,’ Eugeo reassured himself.

Kazuto was doing this for Yui, and Eugeo was doing this for a broken man who kept holding himself together solely for his daughter. A man who likely fell apart a little more every night, then put his broken pieces back together each morning, only to do it again the next day.

Eugeo shook his head to stir himself from his internal monologue. There was no point overthinking it. Instead, he should focus on cleaning, so that’s what he did.

He located a bucket of cleaning supplies under the kitchen sink. They were, unsurprisingly, unopened and unused. 

So he set to work, first tidying the bedroom. He washed, dried, folded and organized Kazuto’s clothes and put them back neatly into his drawers. Then he re-made the bed, blushing to himself as certain memories surfaced of how they’d gotten into this mess in the first place. 

Next, he cleaned the kitchen and dining rooms, which were surprisingly easy. He supposed it would have been a priority to keep the place where food was made and eaten clean. He only needed the clean the dishes that had piled up in the sink and set a few dish towels back into their correct place. Or, at least, what Eugeo assumed would have been the correct place if Kazuto ever organized.

Surprisingly, Yui’s room was immaculate. Not even a toy was out of place, all packed away neatly into their box or happily gathered on her bed. Eugeo couldn’t help but smile. He doubted Yui had taken the time to pack them away herself, which meant Kazuto must have been the one keeping the girl’s room so tidy. 

‘He’s such a good dad…’ Eugeo thought as he closed the door and walked towards the bathroom.

That was the room that needed the most cleaning. Eugeo spent an hour on his knees cleaning the tiles surrounding the tub, trying to free the tile grout of mould and dirt. After the bath’s wall tiles were clean, he cleaned the floor tiles, nearly slipping twice in the process. Finally, he washed the bathmats and put them back where they’d been, now washed and dry.

The hallway was easy enough to clean, just tidying pairs of shoes and hanging a stray coat back on the rack. After that, he put the cleaning products back under the sink and flopped onto the couch, sighing in exhaustion.

He’d no sooner put his feet up when he heard the front door opening and the sound of Kazuto and Yui coming home.

“Eugeo…” Kazuto began suspiciously, “Why does my house smell like pine trees?”

The black-haired man entered the room, Yui trailing behind him as she looked around the house.

“I just used whatever cleaning stuff you already had, sorry if the smell is a bit strong, I had to use a lot of it.” He went to stand up, only to have Kazuto push him back down.

“You sit,” he said in a gentle, yet firm tone, “I don’t want you working too hard. You obviously spent a lot of time on this, let me make you dinner to pay you back.”

“What? You don’t have to pay me back for cleaning your house!” Eugeo protested, back Kazuto insisted. So, Eugeo laid back on the couch and reluctantly listened to Kazuto and Yui making dinner.

“Do you two need help?” He called out after hearing a crash.

“We’re good, daddy’s just bleeding!” Yui replied.

“Are you okay?” Eugeo asked, standing up and rushing to the kitchen.

Once there, he found Kazuto cursing as he held a dish towel over his hand. Eugeo walked over and gently removed the towel, making sure Yui couldn’t see. It was nothing serious, just a small cut on Kazuto’s palm.

“I dropped a glass and it broke and when I picked it up, it cut me,” Kazuto told him. Eugeo shook his head.

“Yui, can you please get me a band-aid?” Eugeo asked, dragging Kazuto over to the dining table.

“Babe, I need to make dinner-”

“You’re hurt, please let me help,” Eugeo’s voice was laced with guilt. He should have helped, this wouldn’t have happened.

Yui skipped over with a band-aid, kissing her father’s cheek before skipping back to the kitchen bench to bring over their plates.

Eugeo uncovered Kazuto’s hand, put the band-aid over the cut, and checked to make sure there were no other injuries.

“Thank you, nurse.” Kazuto laughed sarcastically as Eugeo held his hand up to the ceiling light to check for other cuts. “Are you sure you’ve done enough? Do you need to kiss it better?”

Eugeo hesitated for a moment, and Kazuto blushed furiously. He’d not intended to say it, but he had, and now he was worried he’d embarrassed Eugeo.

Before he could apologize or correct himself for his slip-up, Eugeo softly pressed his lips to his hand.

“Did I fix it?” He asked, blushing. Kazuto stammered a thank-you, just in time for Yui to come back into the room.

“Spaghetti!” She grinned, handing her father and Eugeo a plate, then running back to get her own and bring it to the table.

The three ate in silence. Yui was too busy eating to talk, Eugeo was far too embarrassed, and Kazuto was worried he’d make it more awkward. 

After dinner, Yui took their plates back to the kitchen and put them in the sink, kissing her father goodnight and happily skipping off to brush her teeth, thanking Eugeo for cleaning the bathroom in the process.

Eugeo cleaned the dishes while Kazuto tucked Yui into bed, then the pair met in the bedroom. 

“It looks so…”

“Clean?” Eugeo asked, grinning. “Thanks! I spent an hour on it.”

“Eugeo, thank you for this,” Kazuto pulled his shirt and pants off, climbing under his covers. They smelled how clean sheets were supposed to smell, a far cry from the way he’d lazily cleaned them before.

“You don’t have to thank me, isn’t this just what a boyfriend would do?” Eugeo undressed, then climbed in next to him.

They laid next to each other for a while. Kazuto wanted to hold him, but wasn’t sure if it was acceptable.

“Hey, can you cuddle me?” Eugeo asked before yawning. Kazuto nodded his head and scooted closer, pulling Eugeo into his arms. 

“Thanks,” came the blond’s sleepy reply. 

“No problem,” Kazuto yawned, holding Eugeo closer. He moved his hand to the top of Eugeo’s head, lovingly playing with his hair. Eugeo’s hands found their way to Kazuto’s chest, tracing small shapes over his bare skin as he fell into a deep sleep.

Kazuto relaxed instantly, taking a deep breath. This felt nice, it felt safe, and neither of them knew how to explain why. They weren’t falling in love, they couldn’t have been, but Kazuto wouldn’t deny that he enjoyed Eugeo’s company, strange as it was to admit.

Kazuto felt Eugeo’s fingers slow down as he fell asleep, and he could have sworn he felt him drawing small love hearts. He was so cute, Kazuto couldn’t believe it.

“Hey… Kazuto?” 

“Mm?”

“Why am I in your bed when you have a spare mattress under your couch?”


	7. Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuto and Eugeo spend a morning together in bed, and Eugeo has to admit, it’s nice to wake up to company. Especially when the company looks like that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m a month late again oops ;-;  
I... could have worded that better.  
This chapter was so delayed and I’m so sorry ;-; I’ve been doubting myself and my writing a lot lately, but I don’t want to abandon this fic so please accept my sincerest apologies for my late updates. I hope you enjoy a kinda cuter chapter. 
> 
> Warning: It’s minorly suggestive, but if you’re reading this fic in the first place I think it’ be fine. Just some Eugeo drooling about Kazuto (mood) and Kazuto being a flirty moron. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Kazuto froze. His face turned a deep shade of red as he tried to come up with an excuse. 

Realistically, there was no reason for them to share a bed. Nobody would know if they didn’t, and since they were only pretending to be together, they’d have no motivation to share a bed either.

“Um,” Kazuto thought for a moment, “I… forgot it was there?”

Eugeo quirked an eyebrow and looked up at him. “You forgot?” 

“Uh, yeah!” Kazuto nodded his head, as if to convince himself more than Eugeo. “It was there for when we had friends stay over and I thought Asuna took it when she left.”

Eugeo nodded his head slowly, still suspicious, but laid his head back down. He’d let Kazuto have this one, for now.

Meanwhile, Kazuto moved his hand back to Eugeo’s hair, and the pair tried to fall asleep again, though they were now significantly more embarrassed than earlier. Kazuto felt like an idiot. What if Eugeo got the wrong idea? What if he thought he actually liked him?

‘I don’t.’ Kazuto thought to himself. ‘I don’t like Eugeo as anything more than a friend. We’re doing this for Yui. That’s all.’

He fell into a light sleep. Memories flashed through his mind in screaming colour, like they did every night. Memories of the past six years with his daughter. He was surprised at how vividly he remembered moments with her, like the first time they heard her heartbeat, the moment he first held her after she was born, the way his family had looked at him when he’d brought her home.

He woke to the sound of the bedroom door opening. He kept listening, hearing footsteps slowly creeping across his bedroom floor, then he felt a weight on the mattress next to him. He knew what was coming, and within seconds, he felt two little knees digging into his legs, then arms wrapped around his neck.

“Bad dream?” He asked quietly.

He felt Yui nod her head, and felt small wet patches on his shirt. He rubbed her back soothingly.

“Hey, it’s okay, nothing can hurt you. We’ll protect you,” His voice was barely louder than a whisper as to not wake Eugeo, though he guessed Yui already had when she climbed onto their bed.

Once Yui had calmed down a little more and managed to fall asleep again, Kazuto gently shifted her to his right side, an arm around her so she wouldn’t fall out of bed. Then, he put his left arm around Eugeo, who moved to rest his head on his shoulder. 

“Is she okay?” Eugeo asked quietly. Kazuto nodded his head.

“Just a bad dream,” he mumbled. Then the pair went quiet. 

Eventually, Kazuto woke up again, this time at a much more reasonable hour.

“Hey, my little pixie, you feel better this morning?” He asked, gently waking Yui. 

The girl yawned, then gave her father a big grin.

“Much better!” 

“I’m glad, you had Eugeo and I worried,”

Kazuto kissed the top of Yui’s head, ruffling her hair affectionately.

“I’m sorry,” Yui frowned, almost on the verge of tears, before Kazuto pulled her into a tight, comforting hug and assured her that he would never sleep again if it meant his daughter was safe from nightmares, which comforted Yui enough for her to stop feeling quite as guilty for keeping her father awake.

The girl scrambled from the bed, rushing back to her own room to get dressed. The sound of her bedroom door slamming shut all-too-excitedly warmed Kazuto’s heart in the most unique way.

“Morning,” Eugeo yawned. Kazuto gave him a warm smile, pulling the blanket over his shoulders to protect himself from the cold.

“Hey, actually, I need to tell you something,” 

“Everything okay?” Kazuto asked, concerned. Was Eugeo already seeing someone?

“I was wondering if I could go home tomorrow for the day,” Eugeo looked sheepishly down at his lap, “It’s my birthday tomorrow and I was hoping to see my friend.”

“Oh, of course!” Kazuto grinned, “Is your friend close by? I can drive you if you want?”

“Ah, I’ll be fine,” Eugeo laughed nervously. He should have known Kazuto would be sweet about it, yet he’d somehow expected him to lash out or tell him to cancel his plans. Of course, he’d even offered to drive. He was such a sweetheart.

The pair laid back down, getting comfortable against their pillows and blankets again. They shouldn’t have felt so comfortable with each other, they knew they shouldn’t. But they did, and they didn’t know why.

“So, what do you want for your birthday?” Kazuto asked.

Eugeo stared at him in sarcastic disbelief. Was he seriously asking what he wanted? Surely they didn’t know each other well enough for that. After all, they were barely friends, gifts seemed a little over-ambitious after only knowing each other for days.

However, when Eugeo voiced his opinion on the topic, Kazuto rolled his eyes in that playfully sarcastic manner and reminded him just how well-acquainted they’d become the night they’d first met, causing Eugeo to blush furiously.

“You’re cute when you blush,” Kazuto’s voice was smug, with a hint of something more Eugeo couldn’t quite place. The comment made the blond blush further.

“You don’t have to get me anything,” Eugeo mumbled, using his hands to cover his face.

Kazuto shook his head, “I’m buying you something.”

Eugeo sighed. Three days into knowing each other and he was already buying him gifts. He was ridiculous, nobody in their right mind would buy a gift for a total stranger. How was he even meant to know what to buy? They didn’t know each other well enough for that.

The blond rested his head on Kazuto’s shoulder, then put his arms around his middle.

“You’re hopeless.”

“You love me though,” Kazuto teased back, both blushing lightly.

It had been playful and lighthearted, nothing to dwell on or mill over, probably just an offhand comment to play into the idea of their fake relationship, even though there was nobody around to be faking it for, but it made Eugeo’s heart pound in his chest so loudly he knew Kazuto would hear it.

Kazuto put his arm around Eugeo’s back, then gently kissed the top of his head.

Mornings like this were what he’d missed most about being married. He rarely spoke about how lonely he’d become since his divorce, partially out of fear of looking weak or worrying his family, but he had to admit that now he was remembering just how wonderful it was to hold someone on quiet summer mornings when the world was still waking up, when he could take in the small, intimate details of the lover in his arms.

Details like the way Eugeo’s eyes caught the light streaming in through the window, shimmering in the most dazzling green he could imagine, or the way he stretched out across the bed like a cat when he was still waking up, or the way his hair curled up at the ends so cutely, even the way he snored when he was in a deep sleep, like the most angelic lawnmower Kazuto had ever heard.

The thought made Kazuto laugh, muffled by Eugeo’s hair, but laughter all the same.

They stayed like that, in that comfortable silence they’d so quickly grown fond of, holding each other and resting their eyes for a few moments more. They could hear Yui making noises in her room, presumably getting dressed or making her bed. At least she had her morning more organised than the two of them.

“Do you wanna take Yui to school with me this morning?” Kazuto asked, mumbling into the top of Eugeo’s head. “We can get coffee after and I can work out what you want for your birthday, I need to get you a present.”

Eugeo nodded his head. There was no convincing him to save his money, obviously. He’d just have to buy him a gift afterwards, surely there were enough clues around his house as to what he might like. Cleaning supplies may have been a good idea…

“Okay, then we have to get dressed,” Kazuto sighed and pulled away from Eugeo, climbing off his bed. 

Eugeo watched him move across the room, blushing furiously like a schoolboy caught under the bleachers with the head cheerleader. As he stared - almost drooling - at Kazuto’s back, memories of their first night flashed through his mind all over again. A blush crept less-than-subtly across his face, which he knew Kazuto would see but desperately hoped he’d ignore.

When Kazuto turned, Eugeo looked away, attempting - but failing - hiding his now-red face, but of course, Kazuto saw.

He grinned that smug grin he always did, the one that seemed a bit too ill-fitting for his boyish face, then ran his fingers through his hair, shaking his head to afterwards and undoing the minimal styling his hand had achieved.

Eugeo pulled his shirt on while staring at the wall. If he didn’t look back, Kazuto wouldn’t see how hard he was blushing, therefore, he wouldn’t mock him. 

“Something got you bothered?”

Dammit.

Eugeo could practically hear the smirk in his voice as he spoke.

“No.” Eugeo’s voice betrayed his answer, raising awkwardly high as he tried to forget the images that floated to the forefront of his mind at the sigh of Kazuto shirtless.

He felt a weight on the bed as Kazuto knelt behind him, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. Seemingly comforting, but Eugeo knew better. He was teasing him, that was the kind of thing he would do in that situation.

Kazuto leaned closer to Eugeo’s ear, then, before he could talk, the bedroom door was flung open and Yui burst into the room.

Kazuto climbed off the bed, kneeling down to see her annoyed, pouting face.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, almost chuckling. She looked just like her mother when she pouted, a little too cute to ever be intimidating, but glaring like the most fearsome boss of the online games Kazuto played so often.

“I don’t like my skirt!” Yui folded her arms across her chest like she always did when she was mad.

“So let’s find a different one,” Kazuto told her, lifting his daughter onto his shoulders. 

Eugeo watched the pair of them, smiling at the way Yui’s entire face brightened when her father carried her. He guessed that she was closer to her father than anybody else, which would explain Kazuto’s dedication to ensuring he could still see her.

Not to be too distracted by his thoughts, Eugeo finished getting dressed, then began brushing his hair in Kazuto’s bedroom mirror, staring back at his reflection almost symbolically.

“Oi, Eugeo-“ Kazuto peered his head around the door frame, his cute face appearing in the reflection of the mirror, “-I’m taking Yui to school, but when I get back would you want round two from Sunday?”

If Eugeo’s face had been hot before, it was surely now approaching dangerous temperatures. Hell, it probably already passed dangerous temperatures.

“Oh, shut it, you!” Eugeo retorted, then cringed inwardly at his response. Was that the best he could come up with?

“Just go before I make YOU use that mattress tonight,” he sighed, defeated. 

He heard Kazuto’s chuckle, then heard the sound of his heartbeat in his throat, like a mini-drum he couldn’t silence.

He waited until Kazuto and Yui had left, then reached for his phone on the nightstand to call his friend and fill her in on the current situation. Oh, Alice was going to have a field day when he explained this...


	8. Coffee Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After taking Yui to school, Kazuto and Eugeo go to the mall for a meal while Kazuto buys a birthday present.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS SO LATE I AM SO SORRY  
Anyway, thank you for the lovely comments! I appreciate them so much! <3   
I’ve actually been very... romantically inspired... lately so I think I might try and write a oneshot for yujikiri too! I adore this pairing so much, I love them.

Eugeo almost skipped down Kazuto’s front path to the car, climbing into the front passenger seat and settling in.

“Okay, ready?” Kazuto asked, checking in his mirror to make sure Yui was safely in her seat.

The whole drive to her school was filled with her talking, telling stories about some sort of cat she’d seen in a movie a few months earlier. Kazuto and Eugeo nodded along, asking enough questions to keep the girl enthusiastic. They might not have understood, but they enjoyed seeing her so excited.

Kazuto was glad that she could still be excited like this. He could still remember how she’d comforted him and Asuna through their divorce, even if she didn’t completely understand. She’d been such a big part of the reason he could even handle the thought of living on his own, knowing that he had a chance to show his daughter that you could survive on your own, even if you doubted it yourself.

“-and she’s really pretty, too!” 

Kazuto tuned in just at the end of Yui’s statement, which was punctuated by a cute giggle from her and Eugeo.

“Who’s pretty?” He asked.

“A girl in my class! She leant me a pencil yesterday!” Yui smiled sweetly in her father’s rearview mirror, then looked back out the window, lost in thought.

Kazuto nearly braked out of shock, but, miraculously, managed to stay driving in a straight line. Was she that old already? Was she already getting crushes? Wasn’t it just yesterday that she’d been born?

“I think your daughter has her first cr-“

“No!” Kazuto laughed, shaking his head, “I’m sure she’s just made a friend, Eugeo. Right, kid?”

“Yeah…” Yui started laughing again, sticking her tongue out cutely in the rear view mirror. “But can we have a sleepover tonight?”

Kazuto agreed to talk to the girl’s parents about it, and Yui excitedly told them about her friend, making a point to say that she was only a friend.

Eugeo looked over at Kazuto, concentrating on his own thoughts. Friends. That’s it. That’s all they were and would be. All they could be. Kazuto was still in love with Asuna, wasn’t he? It would be unfair on the both of them to fall for one another, even if Eugeo wasn’t entirely convinced that wasn’t already happening.

“You okay?” Kazuto asked, gently shaking his thigh with his hand.

Eugeo blushed and nodded his head. “Just thinking.”

Kazuto nodded and helped Yui out of the car, holing her hand as they walked through the school gates together.

Eugeo watched them walk away, laughing to himself as Kazuto broke into a jog to keep up with Yui whil she skipped over to her teacher. 

‘Dork,’ he thought. 

Kazuto made his way back to the car, settling into the driver’s seat again.

“Miss me too much?” He asked sarcastically.

“Never,” Eugeo looked out the window, blushing. The damned smirk would be the death of him.

Kazuto drove them into town, making his way towards the mall, saying they could get coffee and he could buy Eugeo’s birthday gift, even though Eugeo protested it.

“I’m buying you a gift, you’re saving me, it’s the least I could do.”

Eugeo sighed and rested his hand on Kazuto’s thigh, circling his thumb over the denim of his jeans. Kazuto looked over at him for a moment, then turned back to the road.

‘Saving me my ass,’ Kazuto thought. He knew he was blushing, and he knew Eugeo saw. This was payback for the morning, that much Kazuto was sure of, thought he couldn’t fathom why. When he blushed he thought he looked embarrassing, unlike Eugeo’s angelic blushing smile he liked seeing so much.

He pulled into a car park at the mall and climbed out of the car, Eugeo following him. While they walked, Eugeo laced their fingers together, swinging their arms back and forth while they looked through the windows of stores they couldn’t afford to go in.

“What do you like?” Kazuto asked while they looked. 

“If you must buy me something, I like flowers.” Eugeo sighed. 

Kazuto grinned, walking a little faster. Now he knew what he’d buy him, as long as he could get away for a few minutes. He wondered how extravagant he could go without embarrassing Eugeo. 

“But what do I get you?” Eugeo asked. 

Kazuto rolled his eyes and chuckled, “I’m buying you a birthday present, you don’t need to buy me anything.”

“I want to give you something though!” Eugeo pouted in annoyance, which made Kazuto burst out laughing.

“You’re so cute!” He laughed, turning to face Eugeo and cupping his face in his hands.

They looked at each other for a while, acutely aware that people were watching them. Kazuto was about to let him go, but appreciated how adorable Eugeo looked, blushing like mad with lips pouted cutely, looking like the most kissable person in the world.

Without hesitation, Kazuto dipped down, lips meeting Eugeo’s softly while Eugeo stood on his toes to reach him more comfortably.

Kazuto trailed one hand down to Eugeo’s waist, the other hand still holding his cheek. Eugeo pulled his arms around Kazuto’s neck, nearly stumbling backwards.

“That’s gross!”

“You’re gross!” Kazuto pulled away quickly, turning to see the teenager who’d called out to them.

Eugeo buried his face in Kazuto’s neck, mumbling something about him being an idiot. Kazuto hugged him, kissing the top of his head before they continued walking.

Eugeo’s face was still red, his lips still tingling. Kissing Kazuto felt nice. Not that he had much experience with it…

“Eugeo, think fast!” Kazuto pulled him into another kiss, this one much quicker than the last, then pulled away and set off down the middle of the mall.

“Kazuto wait up!” Eugeo chased after him, laughing like a kid.

When he caught up to him, he came out of the florist, grinning like a child.

“Oh no,”

“Shush, you’ll love it,” Kazuo our an arm around him, kissing his cheek and practically dragging him to a small café by the flower shop.

They both ordered coffees and Kazuto ordered a small cake for the both of them to share, which made Eugeo blush.

“This is too much,” Eugeo told him, embarrassed that Kazuto was spending money on him.

“Isn’t this just what a good boyfriend would do?” Kazuto asked, looking at Eugeo in a way he couldn’t describe. There were layers to it, affection, warmth, what Eugeo assumed was friendship, though he couldn’t quite tell.

“Fake boyfriend.” Eugeo corrected, to which Kazuto rolled his eyes.

The waiter brought their order over, smiling at them before turning back to the kitchen.

Kazuto took a fork, using it to cut a small corner of the cake, then held it up to Eugeo’s lips. 

“Say ‘ah’,” 

“Ah?” 

Kazuto fed him the cake, laughing as Eugeo spilled crumbs down his chin. Kazuto moves his thumb to Eugeo’s chin, wiping the crumbs away, then tucked some of his hair behind his ear.

“It’s good,” Eugeo told him. 

He took his fork, cutting off another piece and feeding it to Kazuto, who practically moaned as he tasted it.

“This is better than good,” he mumbled through cake, “I’ve never been in love with anything more than I love this cake, and I’ve been married before.”

Eugeo laughed, watching as Kazuto’s eyes grew wide and his lips pulled into a grin while he ate. He was so cute, especially when he was so excited about something. 

They finished their cake and their drinks, then Eugeo excused himself to make a phone call while Kazuto paid.

“I just want to make sure my friend’s still available tomorrow,” he told him as he walked outside the mall.

“Be safe, love you!” Kazuto called loudly, snickering as Eugeo blushed and accidentally walked into a wall.

“I’m okay!” He called back as he rushed towards the doors, hopeful nobody had seen him embarrass himself.

Kazuto watched him walk off, smiling to himself as he disappeared outside, affection and warmth in his chest at the sight of the blond.

‘Dork,’ he thought.


	9. The First Realisation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a worrying conversation with his friend, Eugeo seeks comfort from Kazuto, allowing himself to be more vulnerable than he's been with anybody else. But, while he worries about his family, Eugeo realises he has much more immediate concerns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE!  
I'm tired, I'm sad, have my boys.

“Alice, please-” Eugeo practically whined down the phone, not above stamping his foot on the ground like a spoilt toddler.

_ “No, no, no! You can’t just tell me you’re dating someone and then tell me to not ask for details! I want to hear about everything!” _

“I know, and I promise I’ll tell you later,” Eugeo sighed, “I need to get back, but when we get back to his house I can explain the whole thing.”

_ “You better! I’m telling your family, they’ll freak out! I can’t believe you hid this from us!” _

“No, no, Alice, wait!”

With that, the phone call ended, and Eugeo stared at the mall parking lot, dumbfounded. His parents were going to kill him. That’s what he’d decided on. They didn’t even know he was gay, let alone being told he was dating some random man they’d never met, let alone a man with a child. They’d have his head. Oh, and if they found out  _ how _ they’d met… Eugeo shuddered at the thought.

“Everything okay?” Kazuto asked, appearing from nowhere behind him and putting an arm around his shoulders.

“I need you to run away with me, right now. We can move to the countryside for six years, fake our deaths, and then, when everyone’s forgotten us, we can move back here with new names and plastic surgery and nobody will know it’s us and you can win back Asuna and-”

“Woah, woah, woah, calm down,” Kazuto looked down at Eugeo - who may very well have been on the edge of a mental breakdown - and sighed, pulling him into a hug while he let out muffled screams of frustration.

Were people staring at them? Yes. Was the teenager from before still calling out insults as he and his friends walked by? Yes. Did Kazuto care? Surprisingly, no. For now, his priority was the man in his arms, who was clearly dealing with something important, something Kazuto didn’t want to belittle or mock like he normally would try to.

“Do you need to talk about it or be distracted from… whatever  _ this _ is?” He asked, rubbing Eugeo’s back comfortingly.

Eugeo pulled back to look up at him, “Can we talk about it? But, not here, back home, if that isn’t too much trouble,”

“Yeah, sure, let’s go home,” Kazuto took Eugeo’s hand again, walking him back to the car and helping him in while he started to cry again.

He managed to tell Kazuto the basics of what had happened. He’d tried explaining the situation to his friend, who had then said she’d tell his family. Kazuto had been confused as to why that was getting him in such a state until Eugeo had - after scolding him for interrupting - explained that he wasn’t out to his family and that he doubted they’d be half as accepting as Kazuto’s family.

“Oh,” Kazuto nodded his head in understanding, before reaching one hand over to hold Eugeo’s hand gently, “I promise you, no matter what happens, I’m here for you, okay? I know this is just… whatever we are… but I still care about you. I want you to know that, no matter what happens between us, if you need someone to talk to, I’m here,”

“Thank you,” Eugeo mumbled. No matter what happened between them? Nothing was meant to happen between them. This was a fling, not even that, this was all fake for the sake of Yui. A fling, yeah, that was how Eugeo would think of it. No feelings. A fling, and nothing more.

“Do you need me to explain everything to your friend?” Kazuto asked.

Eugeo shook his head, “No, I can, I don’t need you to solve everything for me,”

Kazuto nodded his head and kept driving. What if he  _ wanted _ to solve all of Eugeo’s problems? What if he wanted to make sure that he’d never have to worry about being outed or unsafe, that he always had a warm bed to come home to and someone to hold at the end of a long day like they’d been doing. He just wanted to make sure that, for the rest of his life, until he was old and grey, he could make sure Eugeo felt safe and accepted and so loved he couldn’t put it into words.

As a friend. Of course.

They pulled into Kazuto driveway and he helped Eugeo out of the car, walking hand-in-hand up the front steps, inside the house and to the bedroom, where Eugeo sat down on Kazuto’s bed and let out a frustrated sigh.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help?” Kazuto asked worriedly.

Eugeo looked up at him, Kazuto’s normally boyish face now matured with concern, and felt himself break down again. Maybe he  _ did  _ need help with this after all. He wasn’t sure if he could face Alice without crying, let alone his parents. Oh God, what would they say? Had she already told them?

Kazuto, now caught-up on the situation, pulled his phone from his back pocket and began to type a text to Eugeo’s friend explaining their predicament and asking if she’d be able to keep it a secret from his family until Eugeo was ready. Eugeo had protested at first but eventually came around to the idea after he realised Kazuto was genuinely concerned for him.

“No, no, don’t say that,” Eugeo looked over Kazuto’s shoulder as he sat next to him, Eugeo curled up next to him with a blanket over his shoulders.

Kazuto sighed, re-typing the message for what felt like the millionth time before reading it out loud again, “Is that okay this time?” He asked, smiling in relief when Eugeo nodded.

“Okay, send it,” Eugeo agreed, then covered his eyes as Kazuto hit send.

“It’s gonna be okay, I promise,” Kazuto assured him, putting his head on Eugeo’s shoulder.

Eugeo mumbled a small thank you, then Kazuto moved to face him properly, gently kissing the tip of his nose, mumbling over and over again that everything would work out okay while he peppered him with kisses, leaving no part of his face unkissed, eventually trailing down to his shoulder, which made Eugeo let out an adorable sigh of contentment.

“I could get used to this,” he joked as Kazuto rested his head comfortably on his shoulder, occasionally kissing along his jawline again just to see Eugeo’s embarrassed face. He’d be lying if he didn’t say he enjoyed the way the blond reacted to him, so adorably bashful about everything that Kazuto felt guilty at the thought of how unromantic their first meeting had been.

“Can’t, you go back in a few days,” Kazuto reminded him between kisses, before pulling away to look at Eugeo’s blushing face, “Or are you catching feelings?” 

That damned smirk was going to be the end of him, Eugeo swore it. The way his eyes trailed over his face like that while he held him so comfortingly, what the hell was he supposed to do?  _ Not _ fall in love with him, the way he made him feel?

_ Oh. _

_ Oh no. _

The realisation hit Eugeo like a tonne of bricks.  _ Dammit _ . He  _ had _ fallen in love with him. So soon? Of course, Kazuto was a hard person to not fall in love with, loving and sweet with everything Eugeo had dreamt about, compassionate and nurturing yet devilishly charming. Maybe too charming for his own good, maybe too charming for Eugeo’s own good.

“What’s the problem, cat got your tongue?” Kazuto moved back to kiss his lips, and Eugeo could have melted from the way he felt him smirking. Of course, he’d fallen for him, and of course, Kazuto knew. Did he?

When they pulled away again, Kazuto took the time to appreciate the blush across Eugeo’s face, the way his eyes looked so lost in thoughts Kazuto would never hear, the way his hands gripped his so securely it felt like he couldn’t let him go.

He didn’t want to let him go.

“Don’t you have a daughter to bring home about now?” Eugeo asked, looking away at a wall as he gently shoved Kazuto away from him.

Kazuto gave him one last kiss, then said goodbye as he walked towards the door, taking his phone with him with a promise to let him know as soon as Alice replied to his text. Just as he opened the door, he turned back around, running to his bedroom to steal a final kiss from a still-blushing Eugeo, who scolded him to leave before he was late.

“Worth it!” He called as he walked back out to the car. He’d be late for the end of the world if it meant he’d get to spend more time with Eugeo, memorising every detail of him that made him who he was, from his smile to his laugh to what kept him up at night.

As a friend. Of course.

_ Right? _


	10. Happy Birth-Gay!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuto plans a small party to celebrate Eugeo's birthday and also learns he can't cook.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four. Thousand. Words. (Almost.)
> 
> I'm so proud of myself! This is the longest thing I've written for anything and I'm just! So! Happy!  
It's late right now so I'm sorry if I don't answer comments until tomorrow!! I read and appreciate all of them, thank you so much to everyone who comments or leaves a kudos or shares my fics, it means so much to me! <3

Kazuto woke early in the morning, careful to not disturb Eugeo sleeping next to him. He stopped to admire the way his blond hair fell cutely over his face, every little detail of him engrained in Kazuto’s memory. He pulled the blanket up over his shoulders, kissed him on top of the head, then quietly left the bedroom, shutting the door behind him.

Once he was into the hallway, he checked his messages on his phone, seeing one from an unknown number.

‘ _ I’m waiting outside, is he still asleep? _ ’

Kazuto grinned at his phone, running as quietly as he could to the front door and opening it to reveal a blonde-haired woman standing on his front porch, a new car parked in his driveway. He shivered briefly from the cold, remembering he was only in pyjama bottoms, then blushed.

“Uh, hey, I’m Kazuto,” he held out his hand.

“Alice,” she shook his hand firmly.

“Eugeo’s still sleeping, do you think we can set everything up before he wakes up?” Kazuto asked nervously, acutely aware to keep his voice down for fear of Eugeo hearing him.

“I don’t think so,” Alice pursed her lips for a moment, then looked back towards her car, “I can leave all my stuff here, and take him out for a few hours while you set everything up?”

Kazuto nodded his head. That would leave him enough time to set up for a party and bake a cake. He breathed a sigh of relief, then he and Alice began to unload the supplies from her car into his garage. Most of them were streamers or balloons, enough to fill Kazuto’s entire living room, most probably.

“Okay, I’ll go wake him up, can you come back in an hour?” Kazuto couldn’t hide the excitement from his voice.

Alice laughed lightly and gave him a pat on the shoulder, “Look after my boy, okay?” She chuckled as she made her way back to her car to drive around town and kill time. She didn’t know what Kazuto was planning for the morning, but she hoped it would make Eugeo happy. That’s all she could ever ask for.

Kazuto watched her drive off, then practically ran back through his house, throwing open his bedroom door and jumping on the bed like an excitable puppy.

“Happy birthday!” He singsonged, shaking Eugeo’s shoulders and waking him.

Eugeo rolled over, propping himself on his elbows to face Kazuto.

“Morning,” he mumbled.

Kazuto cupped his face in his hands, letting Eugeo close the gap between them for another kiss, both still half-asleep, slow and gentle while Eugeo processed what day it was. When he eventually realised, he practically threw Kazuto off him, jumping out of bed and rushing around the room to get dressed.

“I’m meant to be meeting Alice, oh my God, I’m so late-”

“Chill, she called earlier and said she’s running late,” Kazuto lied, pulling Eugeo back into bed. Of course, Alice hadn’t exactly called, but she was certainly not going to be there so soon, and Eugeo deserved some rest. He’d been up late the night before.

He laid down again, as much as he tried to protest, then watched Kazuto run out of the room and return a few minutes later with a card and small box.

“I told you not to get-”

“Shush, just open it,” Kazuto handed them both to him, then sat next to him to watch his reaction.

First, Eugeo opened the card, a cute pastel blue colour with a watercolour blue rose on the front. On the inside was a handwritten message Eugeo could only describe as a period novel love letter, handwriting neater than he would have expected.

‘ _ Happy birthday, Eugeo! Thank you for everything you’ve done these few days, and I hope this year is good to you. I hope it’s a year I can spend by your side, no matter which way that might be. Love, Kazuto _ .’

“Kazuto, that’s so sweet of you,” Eugeo smiled, letting Kazuto lovingly kiss his cheek before he opened the box.

It was wrapped with the same light blue colour, a big silver ribbon around it and dauntingly large silver bow on top. Once he’d torn off the paper he found a much smaller box inside. He opened that, then found one last box inside that one.

“Is there anything actually in here?” He asked suspiciously.

“You’ll see,” Kazuto smirked.

Once he opened the final box, Eugeo found a folded piece of paper, which he unfolded and read.

‘ _ Your present’s getting delivered this afternoon, just wanted to annoy you. _ ’

“You’re annoying,” Eugeo sighed, setting the box on the bed.

“I had to kill time so you weren’t bored waiting for your friend,” 

“Aren’t there better ways to kill time than opening boxes of nothing?” Eugeo asked.

As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew how Kazuto would interpret them. Sure enough, his lips were on his within seconds, Eugeo’s protests of running late falling silent. It was his birthday, he could be late if he wanted to be. Especially when running late meant spending more time with Kazuto.

But, just as Kazuto’s hands began working on the buttons of Eugeo’s shirt, there was a knock at the bedroom door, and the pair looked at each other incredulously.

“One second, Yui!” Kazuto called, rolling off Eugeo and pulling on a shirt while Eugeo re-adjusted his.

Once they were both decent, Kazuto opened the door and Yui walked in with her hands behind her back, excitedly giggling as she skipped over to Eugeo.

“Daddy said it was your birthday, so I made you this in school yesterday!”

She pulled a hand-made birthday card from behind her back. It was covered in glitter, flowers drawn in crayons in every colour of the rainbow, and several butterfly stickers with a big ‘ _ Happy Birthday! _ ’ written across the front in eight-year-old handwriting.

“Thank you so much, Yui, this is so beautiful!” Eugeo pulled the girl into a hug, trying not to cry. It was truly one of the most thoughtful gifts he’d received in his entire life, he’d not expected either of them to do anything for him, and the thought that Yui considered him part of her family enough to make him a birthday card made his heart sing.

The inside of the card was short but sweet, reading a simple ‘ _ Happy birthday Eugeo! _ ’ with a smile at the end, that Eugeo again nearly teared up over.

“You’re welcome, I love you!” Yui hugged him back, then Kazuto joined them, the three of them hugging like a real family. Eugeo thought that should be his birthday wish, that the three of them could stay like that forever.

“As much as I wish we could stay here forever,” Kazuto began, “Yui has school and you have to get dressed to meet your friend today,”

Eugeo and Yui both sighed, hugging one last time, then Yui skipped off to her room to get dressed for school while Eugeo started getting dressed to see Alice.

“You didn’t have to turn on the waterworks just before, you know,” Kazuto laughed as he pulled on a clean pair of pants.

“That was the most beautiful card I’ve ever seen and I’m going to put it next to my TV when I get home,” Eugeo told him firmly, making Kazuto’s heart swell with pride.

_ ‘Not catching feelings my ass,’ _ he thought smugly as he finished buttoning up his shirt.

“Okay, I’ll be back later, if you’re out please just text me, I wanna make sure you’re safe,” Kazuto kissed Eugeo’s cheek and met Yui out in the hallway as they walked to his car.

“Stay safe today, and thank you!” Eugeo called after them, still admiring his cards as they went.

He flopped back onto the bed, blushing like mad. He couldn’t break Yui’s heart by leaving, but, more than that, he couldn’t break his own heart by leaving.

He’d grown so accustomed to waking up to Kazuto’s smiling face and falling asleep with his arms wrapped around him securely, always protecting him, always keeping him safe.

‘ _ Kazuto Kirigaya, you’re going to be the death of me, _ ’ he thought.

His melodramatic thoughts were interrupted by knocking at the door - undoubtedly Alice - and he went to open it. 

“Happy birthday!” 

Eugeo practically lept into Alice’s arms, hugging her so tightly he was worried he’d break one of her ribs.

“I’m so glad you’re here! There’s so much I need to tell you!” 

“I’ll say,” Alice rolled her eyes, taking a few steps back from the door so Eugeo could walk outside and lock the door behind them, “I wanna hear about this boyfriend of yours,”

Eugeo blushed as they walked to Alice’s car, “Well, you know what he sent you, right?”

Alice nodded, “Yeah, you two aren’t actually together.  _ But _ -” she smirked, “-you wanna be together, don’t you?”

Eugeo could’ve died on the spot from how much he was blushing.

“Actually…” he opened the car door and climbed inside, burying his face in his hands, “I  _ do _ . I realised yesterday, he kissed me and I realised I just… I wanna kiss him every day and be together for real and… I’ve got it bad, Alice,”

His friend looked at him, the helpless mess, affectionately ruffled his hair and sighed, chuckling while she pulled out of the drive.

“Buddy, you gotta tell him,”

“No! He likes someone else!”

“Does he?” Alice asked, an eyebrow raised in suspicion, “Eugeo if he really liked someone else why’d he kiss you yesterday?”

“We were bored! Aren’t two consenting adults allowed to kiss sometimes? There was nobody there, we weren’t bothering anyone,”

“Eugeo,”

Alice gave him  _ a look _ , smug, not too far away from the smirks Kazuto would give him when he teased him over the feelings he’d accidentally caught.

“If you two were alone,” she continued, “why would he need to kiss you?”

“Can you just focus on driving?” Eugeo asked, staring out his window, blushing.

Meanwhile, Kazuto was on his way home after dropping Yui at school. He didn’t know why he was so excited, he was just setting up a birthday party for his friend.  _ Friend _ . The friend he most definitely did not have feelings for, the friend he couldn’t have feelings for.

He got out of the car and began carrying boxes of decorations from the garage, putting them all into the living room so he could set them up. He first began putting streamers and ribbons from the ceiling, trying to make a large rainbow across the blank wall in the living room. He wanted as many rainbows as he could possibly fit. After all, it was Eugeo’s first birthday around people he was out to.

The night before, after Eugeo had fallen asleep, Kazuto had received a text from Alice. He’d fully explained their situation, and apologised for the inconvenience it had caused her, before asking her to please not tell Eugeo’s family. Alice had been understanding, apologising for worrying Eugeo and congratulating Kazuto for being such a nice guy.

He blushed thinking about it, but he didn’t know why.

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts away before he got too distracted, he began to set the pillows on the couch straight, then put the remaining streamers around the room and a few scented candles on the coffee table - in the colours of the rainbow, of course.

Once he was happy with how everything looked, he went to the kitchen, digging through his clean cupboards for cake mix. It was out of a box, but it was still made with love, right? He wished he could have made a cake from scratch, and he would have asked Asuna to help him, but she was away and he wasn’t nearly that talented.

“How do I put rainbows on the inside of a cake?  _ Can _ you put rainbows on the inside of a cake?” Kazuto thought aloud to himself as he moved from drawer to drawer, searching for his baking supplies. Well, Asuna’s baking supplies that she’d so thoughtfully left for him when she moved out. He’d never used them, claiming he wasn’t skilled enough and didn’t care enough to learn. 

He finally began baking, setting aside different bowls for different layers of the cake so he could dye every layer. He ran out of purple food colouring but he was sure he could make some. Surely he couldn’t screw up mixing colours, right?

“How did I screw up mixing colours?” He asked incredulously as he stared at the mixture in one bowl. It was a deep brown, far from the pastel purple he’d intended it to be.

He let out a frustrated sigh, adding more flour to the mix. He’d had to look it up after he’d somehow made a green mess from what was meant to be a pink layer. Maybe he should read some of Yui’s art homework, apparently, he needed help in the area.

Finally, he reached a colour he was happy with, putting all seven layers in the oven and setting a timer on his phone. Just as he finished that, he heard a knock at the door and excitedly ran to open it.

“Delivery for a Mist-”

“Yes, that’s me, these are for my boyfriend, where do I sign? Thank you!” Kazuto took the large bouquet, signing the delivery paper and thanking the delivery driver before rushing back inside to put them in a vase and write a note.

The roses were the most beautiful shade of blue Kazuto had ever laid eyes on, and he would have said they were his new favourite colour had he not spent the past days getting lost in the emerald green of Eugeo’s eyes.

_ As a friend. _

He scolded himself. Friends, that was all they were and all they could be. He couldn’t get carried away. He couldn’t lead Eugeo on like that.

He sat down to write a card for the flowers, a beautiful heartfelt message and lyrics from a song he’d heard Yui listening to in the car that morning and had been reminded of Eugeo. He smiled absentmindedly as he wrote, the singer’s powerful confession sticking with him in an odd way he couldn’t name.

‘ _ If I loved Eugeo, would that ruin us being friends? _ ’ he wondered. The thought trailed off on its own tangent before Kazuto bothered to stop it.  _ If _ \- and only  _ if  _ \- his feelings for Eugeo were more than platonic - which they weren’t - would he even have the courage to tell him? What if he did tell him and he didn’t return his feelings? Would things be awkward or uncomfortable? Would that be  _ the worst thing he’d ever heard? _

Kazuto felt his stomach turning in knots. He couldn’t think of Eugeo feeling that way. He didn’t love him, he refused to accept that, but he cared for him. He was friends with him. He didn’t want to hurt him. 

“Hey, brain?” he asked out loud to himself, “Could you shut up for just one day?”

The timer on his phone dinged as if answering his call for a distraction, and Kazuto sighed a breath of relief, retrieving the cakes from the oven and setting them aside to cool while he made frosting, which was thankfully more successful than the baking had been, not that he thought that could’ve gone any worse.

It took him long enough to make the frosting that by the time he was finished, the cakes were cool enough for him to decorate. He applied a generous amount of frosting over the cake until it was completely covered. Then he took the tiny rainbow cake topper he’d bought earlier that morning on the way to Yui’s school. It had been the girl’s idea, saying she thought Eugeo would like it. Kazuto really hoped he would.

He put the cake away in the refrigerator and went to his bedroom to get nicer clothes to change into, then locked himself in the bathroom for an hour. He showered for longer than he could remember doing in his entire life, getting distracted by thoughts of Eugeo that he had so often now.

_ As a friend _ .

He changed again, putting his dirty clothes into the laundry hamper and his wet towel over the drying rack. He could thank Eugeo for reminding him to be tidy, he admitted he’d let the house fall into disarray after the divorce, maybe he hadn’t handled it as well as he told everyone he was.

He checked the time, had a brief moment of panic, then hurried to collect Yui from school. He had to be home before Eugeo was, he had to surprise him when he got home. Yui was also particularly excited for it, too, which Kazuto found adorable. She’d grown close to Eugeo, too.

_ We’re friends! _

Kazuto was fidgeting the entire ride home as Yui told him about her day. Would Eugeo like the surprise? What if he thought it was too much? What if he’d found someone while he was out and fallen in love with him? Would he even need him anymore? What if his family knew and was scolding him while Kazuto couldn’t help? What if-

“Daddy, we’re home!” Yui told him, shaking her father’s arm to snap him back into focus. 

They got out of the car and in the door just as another car pulled into the driveway. Just in time.

“Kazuto, we’re home!” Eugeo called as he opened the door.   
  
“No!” Kazuto slammed the door shut on Eugeo, scanning around the house to check everything was okay, then opening the door calmly, “I mean, welcome home! Happy birthday!”

Eugeo took a step inside and almost cried once he noticed how to room looked, decorated so cutely Eugeo could hardly believe it was the same house he’d left that morning. He turned to Kazuto, wrapping his arms around him tightly and kissing his cheek.

“Thank you for this,”

“This is just what a good boyfriend would do,” Kazuto smirked, ruffling Eugeo’s hair, “By the way, I’m told that  _ I’m  _ your first boyfriend?”

Eugeo blushed, “Alice told you?”

Alice nodded behind the pair of them and brought herself into their hug.

“Happy birth-gay,” she chuckled, laughing harder as Eugeo buried his face in Kazuto’s neck to hide his blush - it didn’t work.

“Happy birthday Eugeo!” Yui grinned, hugging his leg as the blond blushed further.

“You’re all too nice to me,” he pulled away from Kazuto to hug Yui and Alice, then stood back to take everything in while he tried not to cry - that didn’t work either.

“We’re nice because we love you!” Kazuto told him, kissing the top of his head.

Eugeo pretended to not hear the comment, to look away, to pretend to be deeply intrigued by the decorations, the candles, the ceilings, anything to take his mind off Kazuto saying he loved him so casually in front of people - that worked least of all.

The three of them pulled Eugeo to the couch, all smothering him in a group hug like he’d never experienced before, feeling safe and accepted for the first time in his life.  _ This _ was his family, the people lovingly cuddling him while he blushed and tried in vain to deflect attention from himself.

Kazuto was the first to pull away, asking Yui to help him bring the cake from the kitchen. He carefully lit the candles, then asked Yui to hold open the door for him while he carried the cake to the living room where Eugeo was excitedly bouncing on the couch.

His eyes swelled with yet more tears when he saw the cake topper, Eugeo’s grin so wide his cheeks hurt. He was happy, he was loved. He was  _ loved _ .  _ Accepted _ . 

“Happy birthday to you-”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to sing!” Eugeo mumbled, embarrassed.

Before they could continue, he leant forward and blew out his candles, missing the last few. Twenty-four was a big number, he could be excused for not managing all of them. While he blew them out, he locked eyes with Kazuto, and suddenly he knew what his wish was.

_ I wish to spend another year by Kazuto’s side! _

He felt awkward while Alice began singing again as he cut the first slice of his cake, Kazuto taking over to cut the other pieces, making sure to point out the rainbow layers, which Eugeo found adorable.

“I’m sorry if the purple isn’t the best, I had some… technical difficulties…” Kazuto handed Eugeo his slice of cake, then handed one out to the girls and cut one for himself, putting the rest of the cake into the fridge for later. He had no doubt he and Eugeo would snack on it later that night.

Once they were done eating, Kazuto brought out Eugeo’s flowers, delivering them with a childlike-grin and a kiss, Eugeo melting against his lips as Alice covered Yui’s eyes to spare her innocent mind from witnessing the scene.

“Gross!” Yui joked, then began smiling at how content her father looked. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked that happy.

“I think it’s time you went to bed, little miss,” Kazuto told her, picking her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

Yui giggled and squealed as her father carried her back to her room, then settled down once she was safely tucked in bed.

“Daddy, I really love Eugeo being around,” she smiled. 

“I do too,” he told her, softly kissing her head before turning out the light and shutting the door.

When he made it back to the living room, Alice and Eugeo were saying their goodbyes, Alice assuring him that his secret was safe and that she hoped to see Kazuto around more often. The trio spoke for a while longer, feeling like old friends despite two of them only meeting for the first time that morning.

“This is so strange, but I feel like I’ve known you my entire life, Kazuto,” Alice remarked as the boys walked her to her car.

“Same here,” Kazuto said, “Maybe we met in a past life or something,”   
  
“What kind of life would that have even been?” Eugeo asked.

“Maybe we were brave knights protecting a castle!” Alice joked.

Kazuto joined in, “Maybe I was Eugeo’s knight in shining armour rescuing him from a fearsome queen-”

“Who says I need prote- Kazuto, there’s a bug, there’s a bug on the car handle, please help me!” Eugeo practically leapt into Kazuto’s arms, and the raven-haired boy sighed, nuzzling his face into his shoulder.

“My brave knight,” he mumbled sarcastically, setting Eugeo back down.

They waved goodbye to Alice who promised to let them know when she was home safely, then watched as she drove away, their arms wrapped around each other lovingly.

Once she was gone, they turned back for the house, heading inside and locking the door.

“I’m tired,” Eugeo yawned, kissing Kazuto’s cheek as a way of saying goodnight.

“What if I have one more thing to give you?” 

Eugeo could recognise that look anywhere, the look Kazuto gave that fell somewhere between playful and coy, eyes meeting Eugeo’s in a way that made sparks fly across Eugeo’s entire being.

“Well,” Eugeo took Kazuto by the hand and began dragging him back down the hall to the bedroom, “happy birthday to me, then…”


	11. Set Free My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuto's sister, Suguha, visits to spend a day with Yui. But she can't help but notice how her brother's attention is more focused on Eugeo.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)   
If you want to, follow my tumblr (theglitterfairy04) because sometimes I post about this fic there! ♥

By the time Kazuto and Eugeo woke up, it was well into the morning, Kazuto’s phone actually  _ dying _ before he’d managed to turn off his alarm. Not that he cared, of course, he found mornings with Eugeo to be the most relaxing mornings of his life, and the night before was certainly worth sleeping in for.

“Morning sleeping beauty,” Eugeo nudged Kazuto’s shoulder until he heard him yawn, “Are you awake?”

“No,”

“Okay,” 

Eugeo rolled over, turning his back to Kazuto, deciding he’d try to get a few more minutes of sleep. They’d stayed up far too late for him, he wasn’t used to staying up until one in the morning. Of course, if he spent any more time with Kazuto, he could make a very well educated guess that he’d need to get used to late nights.

“Hey, Eugeo,”

“I thought you were asleep,” Eugeo mumbled sarcastically as Kazuto rolled over and pulled him into his arms.

“I changed my mind,” Kazuto ran his fingers through Eugeo’s blond hair affectionately, pressing gentle kisses to the back of his neck as the both of them tried to force themselves awake.

Eugeo rolled over again to face Kazuto, kissing his cheek as he did so, which prompted Kazuto to smother him with kisses, the pair letting their hands lazily drift over each other’s bodies until they found each other again, fingers lacing together against the bedsheets while Kazuto kissed the tip of Eugeo’s nose.

“Do you have anything you wanna do today?” Kazuto asked.

Eugeo thought for a while, then shook his head, moving one of his hands up to twirl Kazuto’s hair, “Can we just stay in bed forever?”

“Deal,”

The pair looked at each other, eyes speaking the words they were too afraid to voice. Kazuto kept willing his mouth to say something, break the silence before either of them had a chance to say what they  _ knew _ they were both thinking, but his mouth stayed closed and the room stayed silent.

“Kazuto! Are you home?”

Kazuto’s eyes widened in shock, then he jumped out of bed, throwing on his clothes from the floor where Eugeo had tossed them the night before.

“Who-”

“My sister,” Kazuto answered the question Eugeo didn’t need to finish as he hopped manically across the room pulling his jeans on, “Hold on a minute, I’m nearly dressed!”

As soon as he was dressed, he ran out of the room, accidentally slamming the door behind him in his rush. He walked to the front door and opened it as calmly as he could, his sister walking into the door as soon as it was open.

“Where’s Yui?” She asked.

“Jeez, nice to see you, too,” Kazuto muttered as he watched her disappear down the hallway to Yui’s room, unusually hurried.

His sister, Suguha, was two years younger than him. In recent years she’d moved further into the city with her girlfriend, but made a point to visit their mother once a week, visits to Kazuto were less frequent. He supposed he couldn’t blame her, he’d completely shut her out after his divorce, adamant he could manage fine on his own.

He smiled as he heard the girls excitedly chattering in Yui’s bedroom, Suguha planning to take her into the city to see her other aunt for the day, which Yui was excited for. She adored Rika - Suguha’s girlfriend - and Kazuto suspected the girls spoilt her when they saw her. Everyone in his family spoilt Yui, he guessed it was since Asuna’s family was so firm about hardly wanting contact with the girl.

It broke Kazuto’s heart to see Asuna’s family reject Yui so bluntly. When Asuna had first told them she was pregnant they’d made it abundantly clear that they weren’t happy about the situation. They’d never showed up for scans or appointments and often times Asuna had called Kazuto in tears to ask him or his aunt to let her stay the night as their house. The last month of her pregnancy she practically never went home, not that her parents cared.

When Yui was born they’d showed up the hospital several hours later, stayed less than an hour, then left, telling Asuna she was due home the next day and that they’d collect her from the hospital. They didn’t say a word to Kazuto.

At least Kazuto knew that his family loved and protected the girl, and that Asuna did everything in her power to make Yui feel loved when she stayed with her, though her new husband was less and less patient with her.

Kazuto walked into Yui’s room just in time to hear her cheerily finishing telling her aunt all about Eugeo’s birthday the day before, making her shoot Kazuto a suspicious glance. He shrugged nervously, knowing that his sister could see right through him from a mile away. Maybe if he got her out of the house soon enough she wouldn’t question anything too far.

“Is he here?”

_ Crap. _

“Uh, yeah,”

“I wanna meet him!

Kazuto sighed at his sister’s insistence, then dragged himself to his bedroom to wake Eugeo. He was thankfully already dressed, sitting on the bed expectantly, guessing that Kazuto’s sister would have questions.

They walked back to the living room where Suguha was helping Yui button her coat. She looked up at the pair, hands linked together and smiling at each other as if they’d been married twenty years. Had it not been for her brother’s blush, she might have believed them.

“Hey, I’m Suguha, Kazuto’s little sister,” she stood up to hug Eugeo, glaring at Kazuto over his shoulder.

“Eugeo, Kazuto’s boyfriend,” Eugeo let go of her, looking over to Kazuto nervously. Why did he like saying that so much? Boyfriend.  _ Kazuto’s _ boyfriend. Just thinking about it made his heart beat wildly inside his chest.  _ If only it was real. _

“So,” Suguha sat down on the couch, eyeing the boys, “how did the two of you meet? C’mon, my big brother’s finally moving on with his love life, I want all the details!”

“We met at a bar,” Kazuto said casually, squeezing Eugeo’s hand assuringly. It wasn’t a lie, and if she didn’t ask too many questions they could easily get away with it. Just don’t add too much unnecessary information.

“We met at a bar a few months ago while I was with some of my friends and I was just… instantly felt a connection, y’know?” Eugeo sat next to her on the couch, perching himself on the arm of the chair, “We spoke for hours about so many things, music and travel and our family. He was so charming and I’ve felt butterflies ever since!”

Kazuto mentally cursed Eugeo, regretful they’d never thought about this beforehand.

“So when was your first date?”

“Don’t you have a girlfriend to go back home to?” Kazuto asked, hoping he didn’t sound too aggravated. 

Suguha checked the time on her phone, then smirked, “I have plenty of time,”

“Our first date was just out to a diner, Kazuto didn’t trust himself enough to cook for me and I live with my friend so it would have been too crowded,” Eugeo effortlessly carried on the charade, Kazuto and Yui joining them on the couch.

“Then, for our second date, he took me mini-golfing! We weren’t very good at it, but it was fun! I really love seeing that goofy side of him, it’s really adorable,”

“That’s precious!” Suguha gasped, “How serious are you? Are you gonna move in together? When’s Yui getting a sibling? Do I get to be an aunt again?”

“Sugu, we’re hardly serious enough fo-”

“Probably!” Eugeo grinned, “I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way about anybody before, he makes me so happy, I hope I can spend the rest of my life with him!”

“That’s so adorable!” Suguha turned her head to her brother, “What about you, then? Are you serious about him?”

“I guess so?” Kazuto scratched the back of his neck, blushing harder than he had been before, “You know what happened last time I was serious about someone, I don’t want to end up divorced twice before I’m twenty-five, thank you,”

“You’re so mean! I’m over here being so sweet about you and you can’t say one nice thing about me!” Eugeo teased, sticking his tongue out as Kazuto stammered for a response.

“Okay, fine,” Kazuto let out an exasperated sigh, “I like your smile, your laugh is really sweet, you have nice hair, your eyes are my favourite colour in the entire world, I love how you let me say stupid stuff without questioning it, I love our midnight snack sessions, you’re amazing with Yui, you snore really cutely and, well, you’re perfect in every way I could ever ask for, and I love you,”

Eugeo turned the brightest shade of red Kazuto had ever seen on a living person before, then buried his face in his hands. Meanwhile, Suguha dragged Kazuto by the wrist to the hallway, saying they’d be back in a minute.

“Okay, quit the act, I know you’re faking this to make Asuna jealous,”

“Wait, what?”

“I can tell you two aren’t actually together,” she elaborated, “You got one of your friends to play along so that you could make Asuna jealous and win her back-”

“I think you have the wr-”

“ _ But! _ ” she flipped her hair over her shoulders like she always did when she was about to win an argument, “You actually fell for him, didn’t you?”

Kazuto looked at her, every emotion he’d felt since meeting Eugeo floating to the front of his mind, screaming at him in bright, vivid colours. The way he made him feel when he looked at him, the way he looked the first thing in the morning, the way he’d already made Yui so happy. Everything about him was Kazuto’s dream partner and then some. He was flawless, the most amazing man Kazuto had met in his entire life, someone that completed him, finished his sentences, as if something out there had created them to fit together, just for each other.

Kazuto took a deep breath, swallowing harder than he thought humanly possible.

“Yeah, I  _ did _ .”

Saying it aloud felt like the most euphoric revelation of his entire life, like the cage he’d locked his heart away in hadn’t just been opened again. But had been completely torn away under Eugeo’s fingertips.

He felt himself choke out a muffled sob into Suguha’s shoulder, her hand gently rubbing his back as he felt the walls he’d built up fall down so marvellously around him, his heart glowing with the most warming, freeing daylight.

“There, there,” she rubbed his back soothingly, rolling her eyes in disbelief at how oblivious he could be sometimes. She loved him dearly, but he was too naive for his own good most of the time, especially when it came to feelings.

“Are you gonna tell him?”

“No,”

“Kazuto,”

“I can’t tell him, he doesn’t feel the same way,”

“ _ Kazuto _ ,”

She was about to debate him when Eugeo walked around the corner holding a giggling Yui in his arms. Kazuto wiped his tears as fast as he could and hoped Eugeo didn’t notice.

“What’s got you so giggly, miss?” Kazuto asked, walking over to hug her and Eugeo.

“Eugeo told me a secret but I can’t tell aunty Sugu!” She had a big grin on her face so similar to Kazuto’s that he nearly cried. She was his world, and when she smiled it reminded him that everything he and Asuna had fought so hard for those years earlier was so worth it.

“Can you tell me?” Kazuto asked, bending down so he was at eye-level with her.

She shook her head, giggling more as she clung to Eugeo’s shirt.

Kazuto rolled his eyes, kissing the top of Yui’s head while Eugeo hugged her.

“Hey, be good for your aunts, okay?” 

“She’s always a perfect little angel!” Suguha smiled, taking Yui from Eugeo’s arms and letting her rest on her hip, kissing her cheek.

They said their goodbyes and Kazuto and Eugeo each gave Yui another hug before she and Suguha made their way down the hallway again. As they walked, the boys overheard part of their conversation.

“Aunty Sugu, how long until you and Aunty Rika have kids?”

“U-uh, well, it’s a little complicated for us, but maybe someday,”

“But you’ll still spend time with me, right?”

“Yeah, of course,”

Eugeo put an arm around Kazuto, kissing his cheek, “You’re doing good with that one,”

“She’s easy to parent, I hardly have to do anything,” he laughed, holding Eugeo tighter.

They held each other for a while, hugging and occasionally stealing a kiss as they slowly made their way back to the living room, curling onto the couch together, Eugeo’s head comfortably on Kazuto’s chest as he turned on the television.

“Hey, what were you and your sister talking about earlier?” Eugeo asked.

Kazuto blushed and stared at the screen harder. They’d been talking about  _ him _ and how much of a fool Kazuto was to fall in love so fast, how terrifying it was for him to know Eugeo didn’t feel the same way but not be able to stop himself falling harder every time he saw him, how heartbreaking it was to know that he’d leave in a few days and they’d likely never speak about any of this again.

In a few days, Eugeo would go back home to his friends, meet someone else, fall in love with some other man - a  _ better  _ man - someone with less baggage, less drama, someone who didn’t need Eugeo to be a parent as well as a lover. Someone easier to love than Kazuto could ever hope to be.

For now, he’d enjoy what they had and all they ever could have. A fling, nothing more.


	12. Confession

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kazuto and Eugeo finally get some alone time...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *heely’s into the ao3 lobby two months late with starbucks* i’m here i’m queer posting my writing for people to judge fills me with fear

Kazuto had been on edge the entire morning. Two days until Eugeo left. Would they still talk after he left? How much longer did he have until the man he’d completely fallen for left his life forever? Would Eugeo ever admit it if he felt the same?

He didn’t feel the same, he couldn’t have.

Eugeo was too smart to have fallen for him, deserve more than to have fallen for him. Kazuto partly hoped Eugeo hadn’t fallen for him. He didn’t want to make him feel like he needed to become a father. He was so young, he didn’t need that. Kazuto had barely handled fatherhood, he felt guilty even thinking of thrusting the role upon Eugeo more than he already had. A week was hard enough, but the rest of his life? He couldn’t force him into that.

But, on the other hand, could he really break Yui’s heart by forcing Eugeo away when they’d become so close in a week? His sister had texted him the hour before, telling him how excited Yui was talking about Eugeo, saying that she’d never seen her happier since the divorce.

Yui finally had a step-father she loved, who loved her, who showered her with affection and laughed with her, listened to her stories, told her about his day and what his life was like away from her and Kazuto, explaining anything she asked him to.

In return, Yui told him all about her life, telling him about her mother and how much she adored her, her father and how happy she was when she could stay with him, staying up late and eating food her mother hardly let in the house.

Maybe Eugeo was a better father then Kazuto could ever hope to be, winning Yui over so easily, treating her as his own after knowing her for such a short time. Maybe he was the father figure Yui needed.

He was the partner Kazuto needed.

The keys on his computer keyboard clicked loudly under his fingers as he moved his avatar through a cave, the game distracting him from his thoughts. Or at least, it was trying to. No matter how much he tried to focus, Eugeo kept creeping into the back of his mind - not that he’d left his mind for a moment since they’d met.

He sighed in defeat as his game crashed for the ninth time that hour. His computer was fried, but Yui needed clothes and school supplies and toys, and she was always his priority. Just as he leant back in his chair, pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration, he felt Eugeo walk up behind him, leaning on the back of his chair and kissing the top of his head.

“What are you up to?” he asked.

Kazuto nodded his head towards his screen as he rebooted his game, “It’s called Sword Art Online, it’s a new MMO I’ve been playing. Well, I would be playing it if my damn computer would work,”

“MMO?” 

Kazuto grinned as he pushed his chair away from his desk a bit, then waited for Eugeo to squeeze himself into the chair with him. It was a snug fit, but Eugeo pulled an arm around his middle and kissed his cheek affectionately once he was comfortable, letting Kazuto know he could begin his rambling. 

“So this-” Kazuto scooted closer to the desk again and hovered his cursor over the character on the screen, “-is my avatar. His name’s Kirito, and he’s a swordsman. Right now he’s in a tavern because I’m waiting for my guild, they’re the people I go on quests with.”

“What are the quests?” Eugeo asked cutely.

Kazuto resisted the urge to smother him in a million kisses for being so adorable, instead deciding to give Eugeo a walkthrough of a basic quest, asking him if he understood after he did anything, answering any questions Eugeo had as he moved through the game, effortlessly and skillfully slaying monsters and returning to the tavern for gold, which he explained he’d need later to buy a sword he’d had his eye on.

Kazuto spent the next two hours explaining how the game worked to Eugeo, trying to complete various tasks as he did so but getting distracted. Eugeo kept asking questions and Kazuto kept trying to answer them. He was so adorably interested in everything Kazuto was saying that his heart melted every time he spoke. 

“You’re really good at this,” Eugeo told him as he watched him fight some high-level enemy he hadn’t remembered the name of.

He shrugged, “It’s only because I’ve been playing it for a long time. I started playing before I’d even met Asuna, it’s actually how I met Asuna,”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, we were the only people in our class that played it, so we started playing it together. I guess we were better at video games than we were at relationships, though. Or at least, I am,”

Eugeo watched his face fall ever so slightly, dropping the mask he wore all day, letting Eugeo see past the act for just a moment. He knew he was stressed, but he felt like there was something more to it than just a divorce. Maybe he was worried about Asuna’s new relationship? He knew he was still in love with her. Maybe he just wanted to be able to put an end to their fake relationship so he could win her back. Yeah, that was probably it.

“You’re good at relationships, Kazuto,” Eugeo said softly, resting his head on his shoulder, “Sometimes things happen at the wrong time, or people aren’t meant to be together, or there’s someone better waiting for them,”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kazuto still sounded… off.

“Maybe that relationship didn’t work out because you have someone else who’s been waiting for someone like you for their entire life,” Eugeo’s voice was soft as he buried his face deeper into Kazuto’s neck, too shy to look him in the eye.

Kazuto chuckled, moving to kiss Eugeo once, then twice, then a third time, “Well I’d sincerely love to meet that person in the next few years,”

Their lips met a fourth time as Eugeo felt part of his soul break. Kazuto hadn’t met that person, then. At least it answered the question whirling around his head. Kazuto didn’t have feelings for him, and Eugeo’s feelings wouldn’t be returned. 

It felt like a dagger through his heart, yet he kissed him harder, almost desperately. He kissed him until they had to pull apart for air, then pulled each other back, Eugeo willing every question in his head to go away, to stop giving him hope for something that couldn’t happen, begging his heart to stop hurting itself over and over and over again.

“Are you okay?” Kazuto asked as they pulled apart again.

Eugeo wanted to shake his head, to voice every concern and worry that surfaced in his mind, to desperately and unapologetically scream “I’m in love with you!”

But he didn’t, and Kazuto would never hear the inner struggle that raged through his mind at that moment, and maybe that was just how things were meant to be between them.

“I’m fine,” Eugeo told him, staring down as he played with the buttons of Kazuto’s shirt, avoiding eye contact. He was certain that looking into those midnight eyes would break his heart more than it already was. He wasn’t strong enough for that.

Kazuto could tell something was up. Eugeo was too quiet, too serious. But he clearly wouldn’t say, and so he didn’t ask. Didn’t want to push it any further, didn’t want to risk the overdramatic confession in his mind spilling from his lips.

Before any words could pass through them, he pressed his lips against Eugeo’s once more, the pair of them melting into one another as if their hearts weren’t screaming words neither of them would ever say.

Eventually, their kisses led to more, both of them stumbling back to the bedroom Eugeo had grown so used to, and as he laid there with Kazuto, both of them vulnerable and trusting with no walls up between them, the questions in Eugeo’s mind finally fell silent, and the ache in Kazuto’s heart subsided enough for them to enjoy the moment at face value, neither daring to read more into it.

They ended up lying on the bed, both tired and confused, both aware of how deep they’d buried themselves into something they weren’t sure they could keep running from. They both had more questions than they knew how to answer, both for each other and themselves, and they didn’t want to ask any of them.

Their hands found each other again, fingers intertwining in a more delicate way than they had been minutes earlier, and Eugeo felt himself breaking his own heart a little more. He both loved and hated the way a simple touch from Kazuto sent his heart into hysterics, the way he could make him practically melt beneath his fingertips, the way he treated him with so much gentle care that Eugeo had allowed himself to entertain the thought of love being behind all of his movements.

“Kazuto,” Eugeo rolled over to face him.

“Yeah?” Kazuto’s face was serious, though still damningly adorable with the way he blushed, flushed, black hair messy against his forehead as he took a deep breath.

Eugeo’s heart was racing with more than over-exertion, breaths shaking with nerves. Could he really tell him? Now? Like this? He didn’t know when there’d be another time, and at least here they were alone, there was no chance for interruption. This was possibly the only chance he’d have, while Yui was out and he and Kazuto had the time to themselves. 

Was the moment ideal? Absolutely not, but really, it never would be. He had one chance, and he wouldn’t let himself waste it, wouldn't let himself spend the rest of his life wondering what could have been.

Tears rolled down his cheeks as he took another shaky breath - when had he started crying? - and Kazuto gently kissed them away, sweet and loving in the way that broke Eugeo’s heart and put the shattered pieces back together all at once.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he murmured, holding him softly in his arms, “Did I hurt you? Was I too-”

The words left Eugeo’s lips before he even realised, hanging in the air with thick, attention-demanding tension.

“I’ve fallen in love with you,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey thank you for reading!! I’m genuinely sorry it took so long to update ;-; A lot happened recently.   
Like it was my birthday!! And my cake said birthgay on it like in the other chapter of this fic because of course it did.  
I also kinda panicked and deleted the chapter twice. Hence it’s so late. I’m an old grandparent I don’t know how to use computers.


	13. What He Had To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Most love confessions are followed by returned sentiment, a kiss and lifelong happiness. This one is followed by tears, a slamming door and a thousand things that remain unknown, unsaid and unseen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted this to be the longest chapter for the drama (and because this is chapter thirteen and thirteen is my lucky number but y'know) BUT I got sad and thought this was a good place to end it. I'm still working on writing angst and suspense so... I hope this is okay. I also wrote most of this on my phone so I'm sorry for any grammatical errors, if you spot any I'll fix them! ♥
> 
> Sorry in advance...

“...What?”

Eugeo’s heart sank in his chest. Why had he said that? Why had he spoken up? What did Kazuto mean by  _ that _ ? Surely he had heard him and understood what he had meant, right? So, his response must have been caused by him not feeling the same way, just as Eugeo had feared and expected.

“I-I don’t know, I’m sorry, forget I said anything,” Eugeo sat up, collecting his clothes and walking to the bathroom to get changed without looking at Kazuto. If he looked at him now he felt as though his heart might actually break. Well, more than it already had…

He almost slammed the door to the bathroom unintentionally, turning on Kazuto’s shower and dropping to his knees on the floor, sobbing quietly, hopeful the running water would cover the sound. 

_ He was so stupid. _

How had he thought that would work? Why had he thought that would work? What had convinced him that telling Kazuto how he felt would result in a confession from the man who had stolen his heart so quickly?

Kazuto was too smart for that. He was focusing on his child, not a relationship. Hell, he was already in love with someone else. He was still in love with Asuna, he wanted to be with her, not some random man he’d slept with on a whim who had been dragged into his life’s mess.

He was sorry he’d ever interrupted his life, felt guilty, like he’d used him when he was already vulnerable. He was a single father trying to protect his child and Eugeo had so suddenly become part of his life, getting intertwined with Kazuto himself, his daughter, his sister, his ex. He’d become far too involved with Kazuto’s life for someone who would leave far too quickly.

“Eugeo,” he heard Kazuto’s voice at the bathroom door, loud enough to be heard over the water, but still soft and gentle, almost loving.

Eugeo turned off the water, taking a shaky breath and beginning to dress himself once more. He could get through a conversation. All he had to do was calmly explain how he felt, apologise, and ask if he would be allowed to cut their deal a day short. That was all, that was easy enough to do.

“Eugeo, we need to talk,” Kazuto spoke again.

“About what? About how I ruined your life?” Eugeo called back, angry at himself more than he was at anything Kazuto had done.

But that was the thing. Kazuto hadn’t done anything except been kind and gentle, hadn’t led him on, hadn’t given Eugeo any reason to fall for him aside from just being himself. Eugeo couldn’t be mad at him, he’d done nothing wrong. Eugeo was the one at fault, it was selfish to even think of trying to blame Kazuto.

“You haven’t ruined my life-”

“Yes, I have!”

Eugeo opened the door, looking Kazuto in the eyes, noting all the confusion and what he would almost dare to call hurt if he was only slightly more foolish. But he wasn’t that foolish, not anymore. He should never have been that foolish in the first place. There was no hurt, there were no feelings in Kazuto that could have been hurt. Kazuto had never caught the same feelings Eugeo had, he was too smart to have done that, knew how to protect himself better, knew better.

He took another breath, thinking over what he would say before he said it, too scared to ruin what would most likely be their last conversation.

“I’ve ruined your life, Kazuto, look at everything I’ve done,” Eugeo’s voice shook, threatening to burst into tears, “Your ex thinks we’re together and you won’t be able to win her back, your kid thinks that I’ll be in her life forever and I leave tomorrow, your sister thinks she’ll be an aunt and she won’t even be a sister-in-law! I’ve gotten too involved in your life and I’ve ruined everything and I am  _ so  _ sorry.”

Kazuto stepped back, looking at Eugeo with emotions he’d never witnessed in the eyes of another person before. 

“And what about me?” Kazuto asked. His voice was calm, almost stoic as he spoke, but his eyes screamed a thousand different emotions and his slightly shaking hands he’d folded over his chest trembled slightly.

Eugeo paused, eyes falling down to his feet. What about Kazuto? What was that supposed to mean? What about  _ him _ ? He’d done nothing wrong. All he’d done was been kind to him, made him feel safe and welcome, introduced him to a kid he almost wished was his daughter, too.

The only thing he’d done was let him fall with no intention of ever catching him. But how could you catch someone you never intended to hold? How could he catch someone he’d never seen fall in the first place?

“I ruined your chances with your ex, you’ll have to explain what happened to everyone, your family will be mad at you, Yui’s going to be heartbroken and you’ll have to deal with it. I’ve done nothing but cause more trouble for you, far more than I’m worth,”

Kazuto didn’t respond more than a soft hum of thought as he leant against the hallway wall, hand against his chin as he contemplated what he would say. It was something Eugeo had never noticed about him. Normally he’d seemed impulsive, almost concerningly so, but now he seemed so determined to think things through, to answer responsibly, not ruin anything more than it already was.

“There’s so many things I feel like I need to correct in that statement,” Kazuto eventually said, “But there’s a bigger issue here I need to talk to you about-”

“I’m sorry, I can’t do this right now,” Eugeo shook his head in the hopes Kazuto wouldn’t see the tears finally spilling down his cheeks, “I’m sorry I ever hurt you, I’m sorry I got involved in your life, I’m just… I’m just so sorry. I understand if you can’t forgive me, but I hope that one day you can,”

Before Kazuto could speak, Eugeo walked out of the bathroom and down the hallway to the front door. He heard Kazuto’s footsteps and heard him calling his name so painfully differently to how he had been just an hour before, but he didn’t turn back. He didn’t have the strength to turn around, he couldn’t be strong enough to not break down crying more.

He shut the door, hearing it open just seconds later as he broke into a jog down the path, Kazuto still following after him.

“Eugeo! Wait, I need to tell you something!”

“I know I ruined your life, you don’t have to tell me!” Eugeo shot back, “Kazuto, just go! I don’t need to be here anymore. Just tell your family we broke up and tell Yui I’m so sorry, and that she’s going to do so many good things and that I believe in her and that she’s the greatest kid in the world, and I am  _ so  _ sorry.”

"Eugeo-”

“ _ Just go away! _ ”

Kazuto stopped chasing after him, standing on the sidewalk, watching the man he’d fallen for walk away from him. He knew not to keep running after him, he knew there was no point in it. He knew this scene, he’d watched it play out so similarly the year before with Asuna, when he’d let her walk out on everything they had. He knew now that her parents had pressured her to leave, but Eugeo? Eugeo was leaving on his own accord. He was leaving because he was hurt, because Kazuto had hurt him.

They’d both fallen in love without realising, and without a confession, they’d both slipped away.

Kazuto watched Eugeo disappear until he was certain he wouldn’t turn around, then he returned to his house, slamming the door behind him as he fell onto his bed and sobbed. He’d lost him. He’d completely fallen for someone who he knew wouldn’t stay, someone who had told him they loved him, yet Kazuto still couldn’t manage to confess to his own feelings.

Maybe he was too scared for his own good, maybe he needed to learn to let go of his past and open up to people again. Maybe he was supposed to be alone, since he seemed to have a knack for ruining every relationship he’d found himself in and breaking every heart that came within his reach.

But the heart he broke most of all was his own.

Reaching for his phone on the bedside table, he began typing a message to Asuna. Was this going to help? No, probably not. Would telling someone help the weight in his heart? He could only hope so.

‘ _ Asuna, can we talk? Eugeo and I had a fight… _ ’

He dropped the phone onto his pillow, pulling the blanket over himself. He’d been through breakups before, he could handle whatever this was. They weren’t together, this wasn’t a breakup. This was his own stupidity and his own anxieties that had ruined whatever he and Eugeo could have had. He should have told him how he felt. He had the chance, he should have taken it.

“I am  _ so  _ stupid,” he mumbled into his pillow.

How had he let someone else slip away? How had he let  _ Eugeo _ slip away? The man he had managed to admit to himself that he could easily see himself spending forever with, the man Yui had so quickly come to see as a father figure, the man who had become part of his life and blended into his family so easily it was as if he’d always been there.

He could picture it now, Yui coming home with Suguha later that day only to find Eugeo gone. He could just imagine the hurt and confusion as she was told that yet another parental figure was leaving her life, that her father couldn’t keep a relationship. He could practically hear his sister scolding him again, saying that he was an idiot and that he should have confessed while he had the chance, that he was too much of a coward for anything.

Suguha would be right, though, like she was the first time. She would be right and he would push her away like he didn’t need to support, too proud to admit when he was hurting or needed help, too scared for people to see him as anything other than strong.

Before he could lament any further, his phone buzzed and he couldn’t resist looking at the screen, almost convinced it would be Eugeo’s name at the top of his notifications.

‘ _ I’m here, what’s going on? _ ’

Asuna. The contact ID once adorned with hearts and a picture of a happy couple holding their newborn daughter now seemed coldly unrecognisable, her name now simple and contact picture missing, all of them reminding Kazuto far too much of the fact he’d lost her.

He lost everyone.

Fingers clicked at phone keys furiously, venting all his frustrations to the one woman in the world who would understand, who had seen him at his lowest points, who understood the inner workings of his brain and could almost effortlessly diffuse even his most self-destructive thoughts, having done it time and time again in the past.

‘ _ First of all, _ ’ came Asuna’s reply several minutes later, ‘ _ you aren’t an idiot. You fought with your partner, it happens sometimes. Do you know where he is right now?’ _

Kazuto thought back to the week he’d so blissfully lived through, how happy he was without realising it, how much he now wished he could be back there and do things over.

Did Eugeo have somewhere he’d mentioned, a park or a store, maybe a café, a street, a flower shop?

The only place Kazuto could think of was the bar they’d first met at. Clearly Eugeo knew where it was, and given the state he had been in when he stormed off, Kazuto could almost guarantee that Eugeo wouldn’t have gone home and risked outing himself to his family. The bar was within walking distance, Kazuto could walk there and find Eugeo if he really wanted to...

Another wall of texts kept buzzing at Kazuto’s phone, but none of them were from Eugeo, so they faded into meaningless background static. Meaningless background static that he’d felt each day since Asuna had left. Meaningless background static that had faded over the course of a single week with a stranger who’d stitched golden thread across his heart in all the places he’d believed to be irreparable.

Because  _ that  _ was what Eugeo did. He was a man who would break his own heart to fix one that someone else had already broken. A man who would fall so quickly and trustingly despite the deep fear that he would never be caught.

Kazuto  _ should _ have caught him, he  _ wanted _ to have caught him.

He wanted to have caught him and spent many more weeks uncovering and unravelling every part of Eugeo, the parts he had seen so briefly in their short time together, the parts he didn’t realise were there, the parts Eugeo hid and denied, too afraid someone would call them unlovable.

Kazuto was certain Eugeo had those parts hidden deep inside his heart, or perhaps he was hoping someone else saw themselves as broken as he saw himself each day. Maybe he just wanted validation, to fix Eugeo’s heart quite the same as his had been so carefully stitched together again in only a week, to dedicate the rest of his life to finding every part of Eugeo’s heart and finding how well it would fit with his own.

But first, before any of that could happen, he had to decide what he wanted -  _ needed _ \- to do immediately. He needed to apologise, needed to ask for a second chance. He needed to ask Eugeo to be in his life and be in his life for a very long time, as a lover and friend, a partner. He needed to find him.

What did Kazuto want to do? Try to find Eugeo and explain how he really felt - risk showing his soul to someone who could walk out and so simply say he was done and that everything had meant nothing to him? 

Realistically, Kazuto didn’t even know where to find him. He didn’t know where he lived, where he usually hung out, who his friends were - save for Alice - or even what his last name was. Trying to find one man in a big city was hard enough, but if that man didn’t want to be found by him, it became even harder, and Kazuto realised that only a truly helpless fool would even consider doing something so difficult on a whim for a man he hardly knew.

_ So that was exactly what he was going to do. _


	14. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which, two weeks of radio silence from both Eugeo and Kazuto, a cocktail of feelings neither thinks themself brave enough to admit, and an oddly familiar meeting at a bar lead to a fling coming to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi. This is late. Again. Very very late. I'm sorry. Long story short... yeah I have nothing, please enjoy gay idiots and please share/kudos/comment... I'm very proud and very emotional.

Two weeks had passed since Eugeo had stormed out on Kazuto, and in those two weeks, he’d felt himself fall apart to the point his friends were getting worried. Alice had tried calling him countless times, saying she needed him to call her back just to prove he was alive. Her calls and texts had all been left on seen.

He’d been lying on his bed for the past two hours, mindlessly scrolling his social media, watching updates as Alice and her girlfriend celebrated their anniversary, his parents boasted about how well his siblings were doing, and his old friends from high school began planning a reunion he knew he wouldn’t be attending. He couldn’t handle seeing people congratulate everyone else on their partners and families when he’d just lost the man he genuinely thought could have been The One.

Maybe he was being overdramatic, he’d be over this in a few months or so. At least he hoped he would be…

Eugeo’s phone buzzed loudly in his pocket, demanding attention he refused to give it. If it was anybody but Kazuto, they could leave a message. He wanted to sit alone with his thoughts and forget he’d ever existed, forget Kazuto had ever existed, forget their relationship had ever existed.

Except it hadn’t.

Their relationship had never truly existed, and he’d squandered any chance of it existing when he stormed off, too clouded by a million emotions he couldn’t name to form any semblance of composure or rational thought. Their relationship was all a game, and Kazuto had played him like a damn fool. Their relationship could never exist.

Except it had.

It had existed as something more than an unplanned attempt to remain somewhat dignified when Kazuto had stayed up late with him to eat cake and laugh at stupid jokes when Yui had gone to sleep. It had existed in the secret glances they stole of each other when they were too afraid to face how they felt. It had existed in the silence of the night when Kazuto held him so securely that he’d felt at home. It had existed in the minimal space between them each time Kazuto had stolen him away to his bedroom again for moments they didn’t have to fake for anybody.

Before his thoughts could betray him anymore, Eugeo’s phone chimed again, forcing him to wipe the stray tears from the corner of his eyes and check the new message.

‘ _ Eugeo, it’s Kazuto. I think there’s been a misunderstanding.’ _

Eugeo’s heart caught in his throat. What kind of misunderstanding? Hadn’t he been perfectly clear with his instruction to tell Yui they broke up, to never see each other again? It hadn’t at all been what he wanted, but he had been direct, what he had said had left little room for interpretation, and left even less room for misunderstanding.

His hands trembled as he typed out a response, hoping Kazuto would understand. Understand what? He wasn’t quite sure. He couldn’t even understand himself as it was, how could he expect someone else to understand feelings he couldn’t even describe? But if anyone could, it would be the same man who had stirred those feelings up in the first place, the man who quite possibly understood Eugeo better than Eugeo could understand himself.

‘ _ Should we meet at the bar? We can talk things over, there’s a lot I need to say. _ ’

The response came almost immediately, ‘ _ That sounds good, I can meet you there this evening? _ ’

Eugeo didn’t even bother pretending to check his calendar, he’d not left his house in days, let alone made plans with anyone. He had the evening free, and most likely every evening into the foreseeable future.

‘ _ That sounds really great. I’ll be there. _ ’

The evening, which would mean he still had hours left to mope around in bed and feel sorry for himself, right?

“Shit!”

Four-thirty-eight, hadn’t it only been dawn a few moments earlier? Eugeo guessed he’d lost track of time between his crying and the sporadic naps that followed after he exhausted himself.

He had around two hours to shower, get dressed, do his hair and eat something. He’d forgotten to eat that day and his stomach was growling and cramping uncomfortably. Maybe he could manage a quick slice of toast or maybe a sandwich before he met Kazuto.

But first, he needed a shower. He smelt like something had died in his bedroom - he would dramatically argue that his heart had died - and the overwhelming sense of self-pity he felt when he looked at himself in the mirror was uncomfortable, to say the least.

Picking a nice pair of jeans and a teal-blue shirt from his bedroom drawers, Eugeo dragged himself to his bathroom and started the shower. It was oddly familiar, so similar to what he had done just minutes before he and Kazuto had fought. A fight that was entirely his fault, he could admit that. He just hoped he’d be able to admit it to Kazuto, too.

The hot water hit against his back as he stepped into the shower. The heat felt like an instant mood boost, and he sighed contentedly as he let himself relax for the first time in weeks. He ran his fingers through his blond hair, closing his eyes and letting his head fall back just enough for the water to roll down his face. He never realised how comforting a shower could be until he’d starved himself of them, or maybe he enjoyed it so much because he missed the warmth of Kazuto’s arms.

God, he missed him. He missed how it felt to be wrapped in his arms, he missed his goofy smile that tugged at the corner of his lips when he chuckled, he missed his perfect laugh that sounded like home felt, he missed the tear-smudged eyeliner from when he laughed so hard he cried at his own terrible jokes. He missed everything about him. But most of all, he missed the undeniable sense of belonging and safety he had found lying next to him on long nights when he would normally be anxious about the world outside the bedroom door.

“Kazuto…”

Eugeo turned off the water, sinking to the shower floor in tears. How had Kazuto become so deeply embedded into his thoughts so quickly, so easily? Would he even be able to face him? What would he even say to him? Would Kazuto take the lead in the conversation? What would the conversation even be about?   


Questions circled around in Eugeo’s mind, screaming at him until he started sobbing. He had no idea what to say or do, there was a part of him screaming to not even show up. He could change his number, Kazuto would never have to think about him again. It would break his heart, but it was easier than facing whatever conversation was waiting for him at the bar.

Eugeo eventually pulled himself from the shower floor, pulling his clothes on and trying to brush his hair into some form of respectable normalcy. As he pulled the brush through his hair he briefly wondered how Kazuto would look. Probably dressed in his typical all-black attire, maybe he’d be sporting his semi-regular eyeliner. Would he have his hair done neatly or would it be it’s usual unruly self, sticking out in varying directions that Eugeo would lose track of?

Before he could cry any more than he already had over the thoughts of Kazuto, Eugeo made his way to his kitchen, collecting his phone from his bedroom on the way. He intended on texting Alice to let her know his plans so she could make sure he got home safely. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Kazuto or his intentions, but he was afraid that if the conversation went how he assumed it would, he would need Alice to drive his drunk self back to his house. Or maybe to her house, depending on how much she would have to look after him the next day.

A notification buzzed at the top of his screen, startling him from his anxious-overthinking.

‘ _ I just got to the bar, are you here? _ ’

‘ _ Just leaving my house now.’  _ Eugeo typed back, practically sprinting to his front door. He couldn’t believe the time had slipped by so quickly, had he really been in the shower that long? Maybe his breakdown had lasted longer than he’d thought, he had been crying for a while.

The bar was a quick ten-minute walk from his house, made even faster by his hurried sprinting. He guessed he made it in a little under five minutes, then added another two to account for the time he spent catching his breath outside the door.

He took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in his throat, then stepped inside the door.

He was immediately greeted by the strong scent of alcohol, and the loud revellers that piled into the crowded space, filling the room with voices and yelling as a fight broke out in the far right corner of the room. There was a group of girls sitting by the bar, giggling as they pointed at various men, clearly a bit past tipsy. There was also the bartender, a tall, friendly-looking man named Agil, talking to a raven-haired man drinking in front of him.

_ There he was _ .

“Kazuto!” Eugeo called out.

Kazuto whipped his head around, smiling in relief when he saw the blond walking toward him across the bar.

“You finally made it! I was kinda worried you’d abandoned me,” he laughed, standing up to give Eugeo an admittedly awkward hug before the pair of them sat down and ordered another drink for each of them, Kazuto now onto his third of the evening.

Eugeo began making small talk, asking about Yui and Asuna, which Kazuto was more than happy to talk about for a solid twenty minutes. He happily told Eugeo about Yui starting dance classes and how excited she was when he came to watch her lessons each afternoon. It was hard with his tight work schedule, but he managed to find the time by dropping back his hours at work. He couldn’t really afford to do so, but it made his daughter happy so he’d done it without hesitation.

Asuna, on the other hand, was doing far less than perfect. She’d called Kazuto in tears a few days after Eugeo had left, saying she needed somewhere to stay for the night and that she could explain later. He’d collected her from her house, much to the disdain of her husband, then brought her back to his place where she explained everything.

Her husband had demanded they take full custody of Yui, deeming Kazuto an unfit parent and saying he was a bad influence, that Yui had become resentful and bitter since she’d returned to them after staying at her father’s house. His complaints had fallen on deaf ears, Asuna defending Kazuto and Yui, saying that his new boyfriend was more of a father figure to Yui than Sugou could ever hope to be.

She refused to elaborate further after that, simplifying telling Kazuto that it was between her and her soon-to-be-ex, then said she needed to shower. Kazuto watched her make her way to his bathroom, noting how timidly she moved and the rip in her skirt and the missing button on her shirt front. He’d kill that bastard if he ever saw him again, he swore he would.

“Is she okay?” Eugeo asked as Kazuto finished explaining, his hand balled into a fist under the bartop.

“She says she’s fine,” Kazuto sighed bitterly, “I’ll kill him, Eugeo, I swear-”

“Hey, it’s okay, she’s safe now,” Eugeo put a hand \comfortingly on his shoulder, “I’m sure she’s fine, and if she’s with you I know you’ll protect her,”

Kazuto gave a small nod and a smile, then they both turned to their glasses, finishing the last drops of their drinks.

“You up for another round?” 

“Nah, I’ve actually been cutting back on the drinking. Trying to stay healthy, y’know? I have more people to worry about than just now, I can’t go killing my liver at 25,”

Eugeo didn’t understand why his stomach sank. He was proud of him, he was taking control of his life and trying to shake bad habits. Shouldn’t that have been enough for Eugeo? His friend was taking care of himself.

_ Friend. _

“That’s really great, I’m really proud of you,” his emerald eyes couldn’t focus, instead trailing across the shelf of alcohol in front of them. Looking at Kazuto would surely bring tears.

Kazuto swallowed, “So, we need to talk about some stuff, huh?”

Eugeo nodded. “I guess we do,”

Their hearts were both racing and neither of them quite knew what to say. Where did they even start? So much had happened and so much had gone unsaid on both sides. 

“I had a really great week with you Kazuto, and I’m sorry I cut that short,” Eugeo began, voice trembling ever so slightly with nerves, “I really loved getting to know you and Yui, you’re both really sweet. I’m really glad I met you,”

“I’m glad I met you too,” a pause, a deep breath, “I love having you in my life. Yui adores you, I think she might love you more than me, honestly-” they both let out small chuckles “-and she keeps asking for you to tell her more stories,”

“If you’d let me, I’d love to tell her some. I have a lot more to share,”

“I’m sure she’d love that,”

They fell quiet again, both trying to plan what they would say next, too afraid of screwing up. Maybe Kazuto did need a little more liquid courage before he could continue.

“You’re an amazing guy, Eugeo,” he reached over to lightly grasp Eugeo’s hand, blushing when the blond returned the action - as if holding hands was the most contact the two had shared, “I like your smile and your hair’s nice, it’s nice to run my fingers through, and I like your laugh and the way you snore like a little lawnmower,”

“Hey!”

“A very adorable little lawnmower,” Kazuto laughed at Eugeo’s pouting face. He was such a dork, and he was the dork he’d completely and utterly fallen for.

“Do you have anything else to say or can I hit you now?” Eugeo asked, trying to feign offence but failing as blush crept across his face. Oh, he had it  _ bad _ .

“Well, I could make a point of saying how much I love your lips because it’s like they were made specifically to be on mine, or the way you scrunch your nose up when you get too overwhelmed, or the way your voice sounds when you mo-”

“That’s enough, I get the picture!” Eugeo squeaked, dropping Kazuto’s hand so he could cover his burning red face. Did this man have no filter at all? Of course he didn’t, Eugeo should’ve known that better than anyone. The fool didn’t have any concept of what he was saying past the time it left his lips. His perfect lips that Eugeo missed so much.

“You okay there, buddy? You’re kinda red,” Kazuto’s lips tugged into a goofy smirk as he watched Eugeo try to recompose himself.

“Shut it, you,” Eugeo mumbled, crossing his arms and turning to face in the opposite direction. That smile really would be the death of him.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry,” Kazuto watched Eugeo take a few deep breaths and shake his head as if that would help get rid of the thoughts now flooding into his mind.

“If I can speak now,” Eugeo turned to face him again, “You’re not half-bad yourself. Yes, you’re a complete and utter idiot and possibly the most oblivious and insufferable man I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, but you’re fun. You’re goofy and you made me laugh so much. You’re a fantastic dad, and I guess, at least from what I saw, you’re a really amazing partner, too,”

It was Kazuto’s turn to blush now, mumbling a quiet thanks to Eugeo who gave him a smug grin.

“Was that everything we wanted to say?” Eugeo asked.

_ No. _

“Yeah,” Kazuto replied casually.

_ No! _

Just as Eugeo went to stand up and thank Kazuto for the chat, he felt Kazuto grab his hand firmly. He was giving him the most unreadable expression yet, soft but still fiery, determined but undeniably scared.

“Before you leave, there’s one question I wanted- needed, a question I needed to ask you,”

Eugeo gulped. His mind spun with every possible question from “ _ will you marry me? _ ” to “ _ can you forget we ever met? _ ” - though even he could admit to himself both were probably overdramatic. 

“What would you say to- wait, no, that isn’t how I meant to say it,” Kazuto cleared his throat, furrowing his brow in concentration before relaxing and starting again.

“Would you be able to come to my wedding in a few months?”

In an instant, all of Eugeo’s worst fears and deepest anxieties were confirmed. His heart broke into a million tiny pieces, shattering and dying in his chest like he’d been stabbed. Being stabbed would have hurt less. Wedding? He was getting married? He and Asuna were back together. Of course they were. A man like Kazuto and a woman like Asuna were practically made for each other, and if Kazuto’s story of their original split had been accurate, they’d never wanted to separate in the first place. It really had only been a matter of time before they’d fallen back to each other.

Eugeo swallowed his pride - as well as swallowing back a few sobs he refused to let Kazuto hear - then smiled a painfully forced smile, “Of course! I’d be honoured. But, can I ask a question to you?”

“Hm?”

“Why would you want  _ me _ at your wedding?” Eugeo asked incredulously. Surely the man you’d had a brief fling with wouldn’t be high on your list of wedding guests, even more so when both you and the woman you were getting married to had seen him less-than-decent. Was this a joke? Had Asuna put him up to it? Was this his way of asking to stay friends?

“I dunno,” Kazuto shrugged, “I just assumed that you’d want to be there considering you’d be my groom,”

“...What?”

Eugeo practically choked on air. He’d misheard. He was daydreaming again. That was it. He’d had too much to drink and had passed out and dreamt of Kazuto saying he wanted to marry him. That was the most logical explanation. He’d wake up any second now in his own bed, possibly before he’d even met Kazuto at all, and everything would have just been a confusingly blissful dream he would never get to live.

“I’m proposing to you, Eugeo. I’m asking you to marry me.”

_ Oh. _

“Oh, I’m not daydreaming…” Eugeo nodded his head slowly to himself, processing the information, then his eyes widened in shock, “Oh my God, I’m not daydreaming!”

Kazuto laughed as he watched the man he’d fallen in love with go through every point of the spectrum of human emotion in roughly four seconds, then he was on the cold, hard wooden floor of the bar with Eugeo on top of him, his legs wrapped around his waist and lips pressed against his own.

“Is that a yes?” Kazuto asked as Eugeo pulled away.

“Yes!”

Kazuto locked eyes with him for a moment, taking in the way tears welled up in Eugeo’s enchanting eyes, the way he blushed so cutely, the way he kept trying to catch his breath before he pulled the man beneath him into another kiss, hands in his hair as if he would disappear if he let him go.

When they broke apart again, the entire bar now staring at them in confusion, Kazuto pulled the both of them to their feet, putting an arm around Eugeo’s shoulder and kissing his cheek while Eugeo blushed and mumbled an apology for causing a scene.

“He said yes!” Kazuto called, and the bar cheered, no-one more loudly than Agil, who had served them the night they’d met and had been receiving constant updates from Kazuto. The poor man had been unwillingly turned into Kazuto’s therapist over the past two weeks as he sobbed to him about his love life over drinks. At least he was getting business?

‘ _ So much for being just a fling. _ ’ Eugeo thought sarcastically as he held Kazuto tighter, softly kissing him as Kazuto let out a cute sound of surprise before returning the kiss tenfold.

“You wanna go back to yours?” Eugeo asked as Kazuto peppered his face with more kisses than he could ever hope to count.

“Mm-hmm, I’d love to,” Kazuto practically dragged Eugeo from the bar, both waving goodbye to Agil as they left, then held his hand as they walked home, the night air sobering them up on the way.

“I suppose I need to buy you a ring now, don’t you think?” Kazuto commented as they walked up Kazuto’s front steps to his door.

“Hm, I guess so,” Eugeo looked deep in thought as he dropped Kazuto hand to let him pull the keys from the pocket of his long back coat.

“Will a leftover onion ring from last night’s dinner work until I can get you a real one,” Kazuto asked only half-jokingly.

Eugeo stopped walking, bringing his arms around Kazuto’s back and pulling him in for another kiss, “If I can be with you, I wouldn’t even need a ring at all,”

Kazuto pushed the door open, never once pulling his lips from Eugeo’s as they stumbled in the front hall towards the bedroom they both knew so well. 

In a way, it was so poetically perfect, they’d come full circle. Strangers meeting in an empty bar then stumbling home for a night together, to fiances coming home from that same bar, to that same home, to that same room, suddenly more grown and complete in each other’s arms. They’d both done a lot of growing and a lot of changing, both learnt a lot about themselves and each other, and now they’d spend the next forever falling in love with each other over and over again, coming full circle once more whenever they needed to.

“Does this remind you of anything?” Eugeo asked as he tugged at Kazuto’s shirt.

“Maybe a little,” Kazuto smirked.

The pair fell onto the bed, just about to tear off their remaining clothes, when Kazuto’s door flung open and a wide-eyed Yui stood in the doorway.

“Eugeo?” she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes.

Kazuto and Eugeo looked at each other, then started laughing, an oddly warm nostalgia in their chests as Kazuto stood up to let Eugeo hug the girl, who happily greeted him with hugs and delighted laughter.

“Yeah, this reminds me of something alright,”

Eugeo gave Kazuto a warm look as the love of his life continued, joining his daughter and fiance in their hug.

“And what would that be?” Eugeo asked, kissing the top of their heads.

Kazuto smiled warmly, every moment he’d spent and would spend with Eugeo filling his mind in warm echoes of childhood daydreams. Daydreams that a freshly-divorced and heartbroken Kazuto had given up on, writing them off as childish and unattainable.

So, with newly found hope and sureness of his future with the two people he held in his arms, the two people he loved more than anything, his response came in a soft, warm voice, just slightly wet as happy tears started to form in the corner of his eyes.

“Home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, I really hope you enjoyed! Love you guys, and thank you for reading this story. It means a lot to me and I'm very proud of it, in fact, it's the first story I've ever finished. Thank you so so so much for giving me the motivation to write this, even if it took me so long to do it. Thank you. ♥


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